Mass and Magic
by Elissaria
Summary: Humanity left Earth's atmosphere and discovered a galaxy larger and more dangerous than they could imagine, and Harry Potter discovered it right along with them. He set out to explore it and lose himself in its many systems, but sometimes he just can't help himself. Harry dives head first into fighting the good fight and is sucked so far in, he couldn't back out if he wanted to.
1. Chapter 1

**{A/N} So, new story. Obligatory I own nothing. Let's get down to business. This is obviously an HPxME crossover and I hope to do it justice. I've taken elements from Katkiller-V's Another Realm series and LogicalPremises' Of Sheep and Battle Chicken stories. I'll be pulling a lot of Asari culture from them because frankly they go super in-depth with it and I love it all. Hopefully I can do their ideas justice. This isn't A/U per se because I'm not going to wildly obliterate canon, but there will be subtle differences in the world itself that I think make a lot more sense than they did in the games. (Pretty much all of the credit for that goes to LogicalPremise because his A/U world is absolutely phenomenal). That said, it will not be quite as dark and gritty as OSABC because I couldn't write it well. Hope everyone enjoys, please review because it is manna from heaven to any FF author.**

* * *

Harry Potter sat at on a plush couch sipping on an excellent Asari tea as he waited for the owner of the apartment to return. It was opulent, as befitting the status of the Asari that lived there, and its security was nothing to scoff at. Fortunately for Harry, nothing short of a dozen Asari commando units could keep him out of a place he wanted to get into. His trusty invisibility cloak and a few silencing spells and confundus charms and he was in. As he sat and waited he contemplated the wisdom of his course of action. What he was doing was highly illegal and could have major ramifications for humans if things turned out poorly, but the upside was just as great, for him at least. His musing was interrupted by the sound of a door opening and closing, and the occupant of the apartment moving around the foyer. Harry grinned, his recklessness only slightly tempered by age and experience, and waited to be noticed. Soon enough he heard a feminine gasp and an outraged voice, "Who are you and what are you doing in my home!"

Harry stood to his full height, which turned out to be about an inch shorter than the Asari whose apartment he had broken into, "My name is Harry Potter, and I am here to have a discussion, Councilor Tevos."

Tevos glared at him and pressed a button on the omni-tool strapped to her wrist, no doubt to summon guards. Harry smiled thinly, "I've made sure that no electronic signals will be leaving this apartment, and trying to leave won't help. You won't be getting out of here until I let you."

Tevos seemed stunned by the knowledge, but quickly regained her poise, striding briskly to a chair on the other side of the room and sitting before saying, "Very well. Say what you have to say and then leave."

Harry sat down as well, "Of course. Straight to the point then. I'm here to join the Council Spectres."

The Councilor was silent for a moment before bursting out into laughter, "You are certainly a bold human. But then, I've noticed that all humans are like that."

Harry smirked, "It does seem to be a defining trait of my species, but I am completely serious."

Tevos shook her head, "Preposterous. This council has stood for more than two millennia. The Spectre's are beings who have shown unimaginable skill and loyalty. Who have gone above and beyond the call of duty in service to their race and this council. You humans are children, flailing around in confusion, trying to throw your miniscule weight behind whatever catches your fancy. You want too much, too soon."

Harry nodded, "Perhaps. But you must admit, we have a reason. The Turians would have exterminated my people if the other Council Races had not interceded. We push forward so that we have the means to protect ourselves should we ever be attacked like that again."

The counselor frowned, "That may be, but you must look at it from others perspectives. Humans have barely been part of the galactic community for two decades. Humanity cannot expect to receive privileges that other races have not gained after centuries of being under the council aegis. But we've gotten off topic. There is absolutely no way a human can be considered for a spectre appointment at this time."

Harry smiled, "Tell me, how old do you think I am."

The suddenness and randomness of the question threw the councilor off but she recovered admirably with the skill and poise of a seasoned politician saying dryly, "I haven't had much occasion to guess the age of humans, I come in contact with so few."

Harry grinned, "Just give it a try councilor. This will probably go quicker if you just play along."

Tevos rolled her eyes, seeming to relax a bit now that the intruder to her apartments seemed content to play word games, "I'd say perhaps in your late twenties or mid-thirties."

"Would you believe I am 197 years old?"

If the Asari matriarch had had eyebrows she would have raised them, at least Harry thought so. He'd always had trouble with alien facial expressions. She said, "I find that hard to believe. Humans are not nearly so long lived."

"Well, there's a story behind that."

Tevos rolled her eyes again, "And I assume you're going to tell me."

Harry grinned smugly, "Yes I am."

So he told her. Starting with the founding of Hogwarts he gave a quick summary of wizarding history. She listened to him, nodded, and said, "This sounds like excellent fiction. I'm sure you'd make a wonderful author."

With a smile Harry drew forth his wand and conjured a bouquet of flowers. The counselor gaped. Harry conjured a vase on a nearby table and filled it with water before putting the flowers in, "That is a common reaction when people first experience magic."

The Asari whispered, "That isn't possible. Not even the most powerful of Matriarchs could do something like that. It is impossible with biotics!"

"But not with magic."

Tevos' eyes lasered into Harry, "And there is a whole society of you? What else can you do?"

Harry sighed, "There was a whole society of us."

"Was?"

"When Humanity discovered the the Prothean ruins on Mars we also discovered Element Zero. As you may know, we were a bit hasty with our technology and there were accidents with Eezo engines that scattered Eezo dust across the planet. Where the accidents actually happened, some babies exposed to the Eezo dust were born with biotic powers while the others developed cancerous growths and other physical ailments. However, Eezo dust was scattered across the globe in tiny amounts. This small amount did not affect anybody, unless they were magical. Eezo exposure in magicals, even in the smallest amounts, caused rapid neural degeneration and death. Within three months of the first accident, the entirety of the Wizarding World was wiped out."

Tevos was quiet for a moment, "I am sorry. That must have been difficult."

Harry nodded his thanks, "I have come to terms with it."

Tevos replied, "So these… wizards. You were more long-lived than humans?"

The wizard nodded, "Normally humans live to between 80 and 90 years of age, perhaps 100 or 110 with modern medical advancements. Wizards and Witches could easily live to be 150. The oldest wizard in recent times lived to be 355."

The Asari folded her arms, "Remarkable. So, you are a different species?"

Harry shook his head, "No. We could still reproduce with non-magicals. Nobody ever figured out where Magic came from. It generally ran in bloodlines, but sometimes it randomly popped up in non-magicals."

The counselor repeated, "Remarkable. But we have gotten off the subject again. However extraordinary your abilities, I cannot simply make you a spectre."

Harry shrugged, "I was an auror for 50 years, law enforcement like your C-sec, and right now I'm looking for a bit of direction. I obviously can't go to the Alliance, so I've come to the council."

Tevos cocked her head to the side, "Why can't you go to the Alliance?"

"Wizards kept themselves secret from non-magical society. Roughly 800 years ago non-magicals began to persecute witches and wizards so we as a society passed a law to separate ourselves from non-magicals. We called it the Statute of Secrecy and after that we kept ourselves hidden. When Wizards or Witches were born to non-magical parents we would of course, need to tell them the secret but they in turn kept the secret. When Muggleborn, born of non-magical parents, wizards and witches started to die from the Eezo exposure they tried magical and non-magical means of curing their disease, but nothing helped. Humankind knows nothing of wizards, and there is no need for that to change. The Alliance would probably try and dissect me to find out how my abilities work anyways."

Tevos smirked, "What makes you think I won't do that."

Harry couldn't help but chuckle, "Dear councilor, if we don't come to an acceptable agreement by the end of this meeting, I will be erasing the memory of it."

The counselor was suddenly wary again, "That is another one of your abilities?"

Harry nodded grimly, "Yes, it is unpleasant, but the spell is necessary. It helped us keep the Statute of Secrecy."

Tevos declared, "I will not have you or anyone messing with my mind!"

Harry smiled genially, "It's perfectly safe. I've used it numerous times and it works fine on Asari."

"You've tested this on my people?"

The councilors look of outrage tempered Harry's amusement of the situation, "I've used the spell to remove the memories of myself from Asari slaves I freed from the Batarians. Some of them saw me use my magic, and I wasn't quite ready for word of me to get out yet."

Tevos was taken aback by his response and then said quietly, "Ah. Well, if that is the case I must thank you for freeing my people."

Harry waved her off, "It is of no consequence. After Mindoir, well, I've spent the last seven years in the Traverse _dealing_ with Bavarian slavers."

Tevos gaped at him, "That is you? By the goddess! We've been trying to figure out who's been destroying those pirate bands! Eyewitnesses state that it's a single human male that walks into a base or boards a ship and slaughters every pirate there!"

Harry smiled gingerly, "There were eyewitnesses? I must have been sloppy."

The counselor said with wonder, "Not even the best Asari commandos could do that single handedly."

With a shrug Harry said, "Magic is a beautiful and terrible thing. One moment I can conjure flowers, the next I could make the blood boil in your veins."

Tevos grimaced, "That does not sound pleasant. Tell me though, if your entire society died off because of Eezo exposure, how are you still alive?"

Harry had a bittersweet smile on his face as he said, "Through a series of unfortunate accidents I am functionally immortal. I will only die when somebody defeats me in combat, and so far it hasn't happened."

The councilors gaze sharpened, "How, exactly, did you become immortal?"

"Magic."

Tevos sighed, "I feel that I will soon come to hate that word."

Harry chuckled, "Yes. I had a friend that didn't like that explanation either. Suffice to say that it's a set of circumstances unique to me that even other Magical's couldn't hope to replicate."

"Mr. Potter. I hate to belabor the point, but nothing here is going to convince me that you are a spectre candidate. As competent as you may be, you are still human. It will be centuries until humans are granted this honor. It sounds like you will still be alive, come back then."

Harry sighed, "Councilor, as I said before, I'm looking for direction. After the Skyllian Blitz the Alliance has been hunting Batarians ruthlessly. The slavers have gone to ground and I haven't been able to track them anymore. The Alliance has taken up my mantle. I could go pick a fight in the Terminus systems, but without council or Alliance ships nearby to tip off to clean up, any good I do will be wasted. Bereft of my chosen duty, where now do I turn. To the Council, the Spectres. The place where I would have the resources, the intelligence, and the authority to go after the worst of the worst, the threats to the galaxy."

Harry realized he had gotten a bit heated during his speech when Tevos burst out laughing again, "You certainly are dramatic."

The wizard folded his arms across his chest, "I'm passionate. Surely the Asari have the same issue, being such a long lived species. What is life, without a purpose. Maidens explore the galaxy, Matrons have their families, Matriarchs have their causes. What purpose then, do I have. I'm looking for another one right now. I don't want recognition, I'm not doing this to promote humanity or it's causes, I want to be a Spectre because that is where I will be able to do the most good. "

Tevos leaned back and smirked, "You think that being a Spectre is about doing good? I think you're sor-"

Harry interrupted her, fire in his eyes, "I know what it's like to get my hands dirty. To make hard decisions. What do you think I've been doing for nearly a decade? Batarians and Mercenaries hardly ever surrender."

The Asari saw the fire in his eyes, the wells of power hidden within him, and shivered, wondering for the first time exactly what the human was capable of. She spoke cautiously, "Mr. Potter, _were_ I to sponsor you for the Spectre's, you would not be doing it as a human. You could not be doing it as a human."

Harry smiled, "So there is a chance."

The councilor groaned and rubbed her forehead, "I may come to regret this, but the raw combat prowess you possess and the potential that this… magic, has is something I believe the council should and must keep track of. To that end, if inducting you into the Spectre's is the only way to do it, then that is how we shall have to proceed."

Harry's smile bloomed into a full face grin, "I knew that I could convince you."

"Goddess help me I'm going to regret this."

Harry leaned over and picked up his now cold glass of Asari tea and drained it. He gently set it back down and then stood up, "Well. Since we've come to an agreement I won't keep you."

He was going to turn and walk out but Tevos interrupted him, "Wait. If we're going to do this it must be done properly. We'll have to vet you, there will need to be evaluations."

Harry smirked, "You'll have a hard time vetting me. I don't exist. All you'll find are three bank accounts and a small ship listed in my name."

The glare Tevos gave him would have made a centaur quail, "Of course. The secrecy you still cling to. Very well, but there still must be evaluations."

"Name a time and place and I will be there."

Tevos raised her wrist and had her fingers poised over her Omni-tool before asking, "What is the contact information for your Omni-tool?"

Harry shrugged, "I'd rather not give you something to track me with, operational security and all."

"You view this as an operation?"

"Of course. I broke into the Asari councilors private chambers.I had to get past C-Sec plus a squad of hidden Commandos. That's highly illegal you know."

Harry whipped his wand out of the inside pocket of his jacket and conjured a piece of parchment and a quill, "I'll just write it down."

He set the parchment down on the table and conjured up an inkwell to dip his pen in and glanced up at Tevos, "Whenever you're ready."

Her jaw, which had been gaping at his casual breaking of the laws of physics snapped shut and she thought for a moment before spitting out a time and an address, "Be there in one week."

Harry nodded before folding the parchment up and stuffing it in his pocket. He turned to leave and was halfway to the door when he said over his shoulder, "And Councilor? If you think that disseminating information about my existence will protect you from having your memories removed, remember that I can get to you at any time and any place. You haven't even scratched the surface of what I can do, and I would hate to have to bring my full power to bear against you. Just remember."

He quickly strode into the foyer and once out of sight of the councilor, spun in place and silently apparated away.

The Councilor waited a few moments but never heard the door open, so she went to investigate. She found the empty foyer and frowned, unable to decipher exactly how he got in or out. She started a moment as her Omni-tool lit up, whatever sorcery the wizard had done to prevent her signals from leaving had dissipated and now the distress call she'd tried to send earlier went out. Not five seconds later a dozen Asari commandos burst in, guns drawn and biotics flared. Tevos stood in her living room, arms crossed in annoyance. When the commandos had cleared the apartment the leader turned to ask Tevos, "Why did you call us? There is nobody here."

Tevo's arm snapped out and a finger pointed unerringly at Harry's teacup and the newly conjured vase of flowers, "That was not there when I left this morning. Someone has broken in, helped themselves to my tea, and left me flowers. Find out who. And how."

The commando was shocked, "Honored Councilor, Nobody has passed us all day except for you."

Tevos' biotics, always carefully controlled, flared and the sheer power of them nearly brought the Commando to her knees, "Do you think I am playing a joke on you? If you do not find out who was in my apartment and how they got here, the only thing you will be guarding is a trash dump in the Terminus Systems!"

The young Asari saluted and scurried away to investigate. Tevos groaned, her lapse fading and all of her hard won control reasserting itself again. She hit a few buttons on her Omni-tool to call for a private meeting between her and the other Councilors before sighing, "He even drank the last of my tea. This is going to turn into a long night."

* * *

Harry popped into existence on the deck of his ship, a small corvette that he'd liberated from a squad of Blue Sun mercenaries before he'd gone on his one man crusade against Batarian slavers. Back when he'd been exploring the galaxy just for the hell of it. It was not a large ship, which suited him perfectly. She was just big enough for an FTL drive, but small enough that he could operate the ship by himself. He'd had to do a lot of remodelling over the years and it was almost a completely different ship thanks to his tinkering. He'd gutted most of the inside and removed all of the weapons systems except for the two forward mounted Mass Effect chainguns. He'd used the space to install a tiny bedroom and bathroom for himself. Runes were an incredible subject that as a youth he'd ignored, but after fifty years as an auror he'd seen a lot of them and after he retired he'd made something of a study of them. He was certainly competent enough to completely rune the tiny washroom so that the using it was mess free and he had an unlimited amount of hot water. He'd made the fuel tanks substantially larger so that he could make longer trips because very few places outside of the Terminus systems would sell fuel to an unmarked ship like his.

He'd been very hesitant to use space-expanding charms on the ship because he was unsure how the enchantments would react to Faster-Than-Light travel across systems and through Mass Relays. They would have been convenient but he'd rather not die in a freak accident as his ship compressed into a tiny hunk of metal with him inside it. He'd made do for eight years though, and the little ship had grown on him. After the first few months he'd decided he would keep it and named it the H.M.S. _Gallant._ He was still British after all, even if most people identified by their planet of origin now.

The I.C.W had been in an uproar, after the formation of the Systems Alliance, with furious debates raging about whether they should follow the Muggle's example and create an organization to go to space and defend Wizarding interest there. Harry was thankful that his time as a representative for Britain had been long over by that point. Many had wanted nothing to do with space, the Wizarding World had no need of colonization and expansion like the rest of overpopulated Earth. Some, a small but vocal and at the time growing minority, had wanted to leave Earth and start their own wizarding colony. The other side had volleyed back that magic probably wouldn't even work properly off planet. It had degenerated into spells a dozen times and after two years they hadn't made any progress on the problem at all. That was normal though for the I.C.W. and nobody was really too worried about the lack of progress.

Advancements in runic arrays and advanced arithmancy pioneered by Hermione Granger had allowed the wizarding world to comfortably adapt some muggle technologies for use in areas saturated with magic. When television was introduced to the Wizarding World in the early 21st century it had caused an absolute craze amongst the more sheltered families. It had also had the effect teaching wizards about the muggle world and allowed them to keep up with all the advancements that were being made. That was why the Wizarding World knew about the Eezo-shuttle accidents in Singapore within minutes of it happening. They quickly dispatched teams of Medi-wizards and Aurors there to help the local Magical population. They'd gone expecting a humanitarian crisis but what they'd found had been a charnel house. The entire magical population of Singapore and the surrounding area had died within an hour of the accident, their brains eaten away by the interaction between magic and Element Zero. They'd quickly cleaned up any public evidence and obliviated the muggles who knew too much and left, fearful of whatever had killed them.

It wasn't enough though, for the response teams. Only hours after returning to their countries they'd begun to also show signs of neural degeneration. They began to lose control of their limbs, their memories became fragmented, and even though they were hospitalized in due course it was only three days until there wasn't enough left of their brains to keep their bodies running. Magical researchers had gone to work on the problem as their entire society was affected, a wave of death radiating outwards from Singapore. Element Zero had spread over the globe, not unlike the radioactive isotopes spread by the detonation of the first atomic bomb.

There was no cure, no potion that they could research or spell to invent, ten million witches and wizards around the world died in barely three months. Magical creatures died in droves, magical plants withered. Harry watched the entirety of his life collapse around him. It had honestly driven him insane because as the Master of Death, an unwanted and hated title that he had never found a way to get rid of, he was perfectly healthy and unaffected. Harry tried not to think about that part of his life anymore, and so he stepped away from his introspection and began preparing for what he assumed would be a series of rigorous tests and combat simulations.

Harry spent the week girding himself for battle. At least, that was how he thought of it in his head, in his own dramatic fashion. In reality he spent a week cooped up in his ship on a public docking bay in the Wards. He didn't want the plentiful cameras and public surveillance to catch sight of him and track him. A week was a long time to be stuck on the ship but he was used to it. He spent the time working on a third set of battle robes.

Battle robes were his own invention, a necessity due to the fact that Mass Effect weapons were vastly more lethal to a man wearing robes than spells flying at him. A good shield or hasty conjuration would stop spells, but he was certainly not fast enough to conjure a block of stone between him and a piece of metal the size of a grain of sand speeding towards him at supersonic speeds. The solution to that for normal people was to wear a suit of armor with kinetic shields. That was all well and good but Harry had found, after purchasing a very expensive suit of armor from the black market, that while encased inside the layers of armor he could not make his magic work. Six months of research later he finally figured out that when wearing environmentally sealed armor he could not connect with his wand. That was a problem. His solution to the problem were Battle Robes. Three years of even more research and enchantment, neither of which were his forte, had gone into his masterpiece.

The robes were made out of dragonhide that he'd harvested and preserved from the dragons that succumbed along with the rest of the Wizarding World. He styled them after the open robes meant for casual wear that had been popular when he was younger. With a tap of his wand the front would fuse together in a more formal style, closed from throat to toe and with tighter and less flowing sleeves, but more importantly they emitted a field six inches outwards from him that vaporized anything moving towards him at at speeds lethal to his health, not unlike kinetic shielding that stopped objects moving faster than a certain velocity. This inured him against bullets and fragments from explosives, but the fire and shock-wave would be problems. Dragonhide was already nearly flameproof, but a little more insurance in the form of fireproof charms didn't hurt so he tacked them on. To counter the shock-wave he added cushioning charms. A direct hit from a rocket would probably still paste him but he could see those coming at him, and therefore use magic to defend himself from them. He'd dyed the robes a dark red in a nostalgic nod to his auror days, but as a last addition to the enchantments he'd added self-cleaning charms so that he didn't have to bother cleaning blood out of his robes.

To get around the restriction of operating in hazardous environments he wore a pair of tight trousers and a long sleeved turtleneck made of thin, supple leather. Gloves and boots of the same material went with it. With a pulse of his magic clothing would fuse at the wrists, ankles, and waist and a specially altered version of the bubblehead charm would coat his clothes. He'd long since fixed the flaw in the spell and anytime it was popped the bubblehead charm would isolate the area so that there was no decompression and then it repaired itself. He wore a blank white mask charmed to be unbreakable that fused with the edges of his hood and created a separate bubblehead charm the enclosed his neck and head to complete the environmental seal. Runes carved into the inside of the mask recycled air and allowed him to see through it as though it weren't there. He did enjoy the air of mystery it gave him and the lack of eye holes and real eye contact forced him to _not_ use legilimency as a blunt instrument to ravage the minds of slavers and pirates he ran across. Too much of that sort of thing would have negative impacts on his psyche, more than he needed.

To complete his gear he wore a heavy leather belt with a pouch fastened to his left hip that contained any shrunken knick-knacks he might need; A shrunken WindSprite broomstick, one of the few tiny vials of veritaserum he had left, a flask of firewhiskey, and other assorted items. On his right hip was a clip with a sticking charm targeted to his mask so that he had someplace to carry it when not wearing it. From right shoulder to left hip he wore a baldric and scabbard carrying the Sword of Gryffindor. It was useful as a tool to intimidate pirates, and a close quarters weapon when his enemies decided they were tired of shooting pointlessly at him and tried other means of attack. A Krogan could break every bone in his body very easily if it ever got close, and Harry found that three feet of enchanted silver blade imbued with one of the deadliest poisons known to man was enough to dissuade them. He'd dabbled with swordplay in his younger days but had spent the past 20 years practicing and honing his skills in earnest and gaining all the experience he could ever want or need. A quick release wrist-holster for his wand strapped to his wrist was the final touch.

All of this he put on the morning of what he assumed was going to be a test of his combat skills. He drank a pot of tea and had some toast before closing up the front of his robe and activating his protective field. He grabbed his mask off of the peg he hung it on and stuck it to his belt and carefully cast a Notice-Me-Not charm on himself. He didn't want to leave a trail of witnesses back to his ship. The robust electronic surveillance of the Citadel would be more of an issue but he'd scoped out the cameras near his ship and he was confident he could avoid them. He didn't mind being picked up once he was well away from the _Gallant._

He carefully made his way out into the Wards, and towards the address that Councilor Tevos had given him. It was a large dull grey box of a building far out on one of the five arms of the citadel in a neighborhood with a spare population. He approached the a door with two guards flanking it, both of them studiously ignoring him thanks to his charm. He stood in front of them, a huge grin on his face, and almost felt bad about what he was about to do. Almost.

With a flick of his wand he dispelled the Notice-Me-Not spell and slid his wand back into its holster. Both Turians jerked in surprise and he very quickly had two assault rifles aimed at his face. A rough flanged voice barked, "Identify yourself!"

"Harry Potter, I believe I'm expected."

They glanced at each other and back at him, taking in his dubious dress and the hilt sticking up over his shoulder, "You need to disarm."

Harry shook his head, "I think not. Call your superiors."

With another dubious glance at each other one put a hand to the visor on his head and spoke softly into it. After a few moments he nodded once and brought the hand back down, "Follow me."

They entered and Harry followed the Turian down a long hallway that opened up into a massive room, probably three quarters of the entire building. It was well lit and had other small buildings dotting it. One looked like a wall had been blown out and there was rubble along the boulevard it abutted. Obviously it was some kind of training ground, and already Harry could feel his adrenaline start to pump sluggishly through his body. Nearly two centuries of life, a childhood of warfare, and a career in law enforcement could not cure him of the rush that he got when combat was imminent.

His guard pointed him to a small glass-enclosed room about 20 yards down from him, jutting out of the wall on the side where he'd entered. He nodded and then walked over to the room. He could already see it was crowded, two Asari, three Turians, and a round dozen Salarians filled the room. All of their eyes were on him as he strode casually into the command center. He thought about saying something pithy but was pre-empted by Councilor Tevos, "Good, you're here. Let's get started."

He nodded his assent, "Very well."

The Councilor began by introducing everyone, "Mr. Potter, these are my colleagues, Councilor Sparatus and Councilor Valern."

The richly dressed Turian and Salarian councilors each gave him a shallow nod which he returned. Tevos continued, pointing out the rest of the group, "This is Salarian Special Tasks Group team codename Ash Ghost, they are here to monitor you during this exercise. These are Spectre's Nihlus Kryik and Saren Arterius who will be evaluating your performance today. And this is Spectre Iyala T'rahn, who will be your opponent in today's exercise."

Harry gave a long slow whistle, "You really want to be sure that you can kill me if you need to."

The Councilor answered him flatly, "Yes."

The younger Turian laughed, "At least he doesn't lack for courage."

Harry smiled genially, "Spectre Kryick, I think that you'll find that anything I lack, I make up for with courage."

The other Turian Spectre scoffed, "I have more important things to do than listen to a monkey make jokes. Let us be done with this farce and move on."

All three of the councilor's sighed before Tevos spoke, "Very well. Mr. Potter, this will be a combat trial pitting you against Spectre T'rahn. You will have the entirety of the training area in which to conduct yourselves. Your goal is to incapacitate your opponent, don't try and kill each other. You will have twenty minutes to complete the exercise. Afterwards we will debrief and determine if you will move on to other trials."

Without further ado, he turned to his opponent for the day and gestured to the door, "After you, Madam T'rahn."

Her eyes found his and they tightened for a moment. A tiny smirk appeared across her face as she strode casually out of the room without a word. He used those few moments to assess his opponent. She was slightly taller than his five feet five inches, and much more muscular than his own wiry frame. She dressed in pitch black, skin-tight commando leathers and carried the corresponding helmet underneath one arm. A massive pistol was holstered at her side and a somewhat more normal sized shotgun was folded up and clipped to the small of her back. All in all, she was the picture of a typical Asari Commando, not that he had encountered any before. Almost all of his combat experience was against Hegemony backed Batarians and the Vorcha and Krogan that made up the Blood Pack. His experience against biotics was woefully limited so he was rightfully cautious about who he was about to fight. 'Then again,' he thought, 'Tevos probably brought in the most powerful biotic she could find on a weeks notice because her imagination is running wild at the thought of what my magic can do.'

He adroitly followed her and in short order they stood across from each other in what looked like a tiny town square. They were around thirty feet away from each other, with nothing but open land between them. Both of them were waiting on the order to begin when a voice came over a loudspeaker, Salarian this time, "Wait one moment. Some of the equipment needs to be re-calibrated."

The Asari spectre sighed and crossed her arms. Her foot began tapping the ground impatiently so Harry decided to break the ice and entertain himself at the same time, "So. Did they tell you what this was all about?"

She glared at him for a moment before responding in a surprisingly girlish voice that was at odds with her harsh words, "I was pulled off my mission because some punk human thought he was Spectre material and they wanted to run a combat test. You look fancy, but I'm going to have fun ripping you ass to shreds for the inconvenience."

Harry laughed and ran a hand through his already messy hair, an annoying habit he'd never been able to get rid of, "Well, I do apologize for the inconvenience but I think you'll be eating your words soon."

Her foot stopped tapping and she cocked one hip outwards her stance screaming disdain, "Look human. I'm nearly 800 years old, and more than half of that has been as a Spectre. I've seen everything this galaxy has to offer and then some. Tevos briefed me on your so-called magic but I don't give a damn about whatever tides-cursed reality warping bullshit you have going on. Unless you've got the combat prowess to use it, I'm going to drown your ass in the fucking ocean."

Stunned by her age and by her experience Harry could only reply, "Tevos must have really been freaked out then, to call someone like you in."

The Spectre laughed, her high girlish voice almost a giggle but the harshness she exuded making it anything but, "That's right. Sounded like a maiden before her first fight with a Krogan Battlemaster she was so scared."

Harry smiled gingerly, "So I can only assume that if I lose this trial I'm going to wake up strapped to a table."

His opponents grin was feral, "You probably won't be waking up kid."

The last wizard shook his head and said, "Well, that's certainly motivation enough."

With that he pulled up the hood of his robes and unhooked his mask, bringing it up and sealing it over his face. She put her helmet on and no further words were passed between them as they both waited tensely. A minute of silence followed in which Harry stilled, focusing himself for the battle ahead while the Asari Spectre exuded nothing but nonchalance and impatience. The same salarians voice finally came over the loudspeaker again and said, "The trial will begin in ten seconds."

"Three. Two. One."

Both combatants moved swiftly. Harry's wand slipped out of its holster into his hand and with a violent thrust sent a gout of fire towards his opponent. In those same moments his opponent had stomped her foot and sent out a wide shockwave of biotic energy storming forward. Harry didn't see if his fire had been effective because he was lifted off of his feet and thrown backwards. After a dozen feet he collided with one of the tough pre-fab building that littered the training ground. He was blasted through it and landed heavily inside. The cushioning charms saved him from any serious injury but the force with which he'd impacted still left bruises. Harry scrambled up with a muttered curse and used a quick cleaning charm to get the dust off of him before quietly casting a disillusionment charm over himself. He swiftly exited the building through the hole that he'd caused and surveyed the battlefield.

There was a large scorch mark around the area that the Spectre had been standing but she was there no longer there. Not knowing where she was he shifted to his left. A silencing spell served to cover any sound his footsteps made and he was careful to avoid any of the rubble lying around. The next few minutes were a test of his patience and stealth, as he moved slowly around the battlefield searching for his opponent. The Spectre had seemingly disappeared and he was unable to find her. More than half of their time had passed and Harry was frustrated, patience never being his strong suit, and so he came up with a new plan of action.

Retreating into one of the buildings he was pleased that there was enough rubble filling it to enact his plan. At some point that roof had caved in and a pile of twisted metal and shards of tough plastic had been haphazardly shoved into one corner. He stepped into one corner of the building, careful to keep out of sight of the doorway, and began waving his wand in a complex pattern. Transfiguration wasn't his strong suit but after nearly two centuries of practice he'd gotten pretty good at it. The rubble was twisted into a rough humanoid figure that was the same size as Harry. He conjured red robes and flung them over his transfigured dummy and completed the look with a conjured white mask. He was about to send out his dummy when he noticed the lack of equipment belt and the distinct lack of sword on its back. With an impatient groan he spent a few more moments transfiguring the necessary accoutrements and securing them. Finally ready, he waved his wand and the dummy marched out the door.

He went swiftly behind it and forced it to walk down the main avenue towards the square that they'd started in. His wand moved in tight motions as he fought to keep it walking with a smooth gait and he stayed roughly twenty feet behind it, hoping it would be enough to keep him out of any more surprise biotic shockwaves. His dummy quickly reached the center of the square and Harry stood at the outskirts, his back to a wall. A quick Sonorus spell enhanced his voice so that the Spectre wouldn't know that it wasn't actually coming from the dummy and he boomed out, "Stop hiding Spectre! Come out and face me! Are you to afraid of one hu-"

The Spectres hand cannon thundered from off to his right and a dozen rounds impacted the transfigured dummy. It was thrown backwards from the impact and Harry canceled the animation charms on it but kept the original transfiguration intact, letting it fall limply to the ground. He kept his mouth shut and didn't move a muscle as the Spectre cautiously hopped down from the top of a building and prowled over to his supposed corpse. He let her reach it and the moment her toe prodded it, discovering metal instead of flesh, he cast an overpowered stunning spell at her.

She was completely caught off guard and his spell impacted her side throwing her to the ground. It didn't knock her out like it was supposed to though. Instead she rolled to the side and popped right back up, although it was with less than Asari-like grace and she staggered a bit as she came to her feet. Her hand was steady though as it whipped around, drawing the shotgun from the small of her back and spraying his position with deadly accurate shots. He let his defensive field take care of those and hurled another stunner at the woman, trying to take her out quickly. She saw it coming though and dove to the side, any debilitating signs of his first stunner gone. This time she came to her feet smoothly and thrust out one hand, sending a ball of blue fire towards him. Harry cursed as he scrambled out of the way, letting the warp fly by and pulverize the wall behind him. This had the side effect of covering him in grey dust as it was blasted outwards from the destroyed wall, effectively rendering him visible again.

His opponent growled, "I see you!"

Harry didn't bother with words, choosing instead to let his disillusionment spell fade away and send a body-bind jinx at the Spectre. She dodged, but he'd bracketed her with two more and as close as they were to each other she couldn't get out of the way in time. His spell struck her and Harry felt a small surge of triumph as she stiffened, but it was washed away when her body flared blue and she disappeared from the area. A moment later he saw a another flash of blue in the corner of his eye as she appeared from her charge on the other side of the courtyard. Harry took a moment to re-think his strategy.

Low-level spells weren't working like they normally did. Even in armor almost everyone Harry had encountered went down to a stunner or a body-bind. Whether it was a function of her more expensive armor or powerful biotics he didn't know but those spells weren't going to work. His dueling style during his auror days had been a high-speed, high-energy one. He'd use his seekers build and mobility to dance around his enemies spells while at the same time bombarding them with with a huge amount of curses and hexes. It was a style designed to overwhelm his opponent, cracking their shields and destroying their conjurations while at the same time herding them wherever he wanted. This wasn't going to work because weaker spells didn't seem to have an effect and he was reluctant to escalate to more dangerous curses for fear of actually harming her. Thus, a different style was called for. He wasn't as skilled as Dumbledore, but he liked to think that his battle transfiguration was up to snuff.

His course decided he immediately transfigured a trio of angry lions and conjured a swarm of canaries. With a flick of his wand they all charged across the square towards his Spectre opponent. He was hoping that his transfigurations would unnerve her but she was completely poised as she smoothly took them out. A singularity grouped all of his birds together and a quick warp detonated it. At the same time her shotgun roared and each of the tigers was dispatched by mass-accelerator rounds. Harry hadn't been idle in the few seconds it'd taken her to dispatch his transfigurations and he had transfigured four heavy iron chains from the rubble at the edge of the square. Animation charms and a compulsion charm gave them pseudo-life and a purpose and they were quickly slithering across the square towards the Asari spectre. As a distraction, Harry conjured dull grey metal spheres about the size of an apple and began to speedily banish them at her. The first of them was flashing across the field at the same time as she put down the last of the lions and slammed into her left leg. It didn't seem to have an effect though as she smoothly side stepped the second and third. Harry had sped up his conjuration and banishment though and so she was forced biotically charge away to avoid taking more hits.

This was exactly what Harry had been waiting for. As soon as he saw the flash of blue out of the corner of his eye where she was coming out of the charge he flicked his wand and sent hit animated chains flying towards her. As he turned he saw another flare of blue as she tried to push the chains away from her. She missed two of them though and both of them quickly enveloped her and constricted. A surge of triumph roared through Harry as he started to sprint towards the Spectre as she collapsed to the ground. Knowing that even if he'd captured her she was still dangerous he conjured still more chains and banished them towards her, hoping to cover her head and toe and restrict any movement she could make. It was in vain though as the chains already on her were suddenly covered in blue fire and both of them quickly disintegrated.

She rolled out of the way of his oncoming chains and before he knew he was pulled off of his feet, as this time the blue aura surrounded him. Enveloped in a pull field, he went flying past her and slammed face first into another building. This time though he did not break the wall and instead the pull field was holding him there against it. He was able to turn around so that his back was to the wall just in time to see Iyala T'rahn pop to her feet and fling another ball of warp fire at him. His well honed instincts took over and he summoned a block of concrete with a swipe of his wand that intercepted the warp. Instead of sending another warp at him, she again whipped the shotgun from the small of her back. However, instead of spraying him with mass effect rounds again, she took an extra half second to slap a large shell into a slot in the side and send a carnage round roaring towards him. He'd had plenty of experience with those though, and so with his first uttered incantation of the day he cast, " _Glacius!"_

Ice burst from his wand and swiftly enveloped the carnage round, snuffing it out. He kept pushing though, hoping to envelope his opponent in it. Unfortunately there was another flash of blue as she charged away again, avoiding it. The pull field dissipated and Harry dropped heavily to the ground. He looked wildly to either side trying to find his opponent but hadn't locked on to her before his danger sense prickled and he threw himself into a forward roll to avoid what looked like a lance of blue lightning that blazed through the area his chest had been a moment before. He popped to his feet and turned right, where the warpfire lance had come from, and found his opponent only to have to dodge out of the way of another lance of biotic power. With a growl of frustration Harry thrust his wand towards the Spectre and bit out, " _Confrigo!_ "

The Blasting Curse shot across the square and impacted the ground just to the right of the Spectre. With an explosion of flame she was thrown off of her feet and through the air, landing heavily on the ground a dozen feet from where she'd started. She was starting to stagger to her feet when Harry sent another Blasting Curse towards her, again sending her flying. This time, somehow, she landed on her feet and even though his third Blasting Curse was on its way, she blurred blue and dodged it with yet _another_ biotic charge. Harry spat out another curse but it was interrupted as the Spectre came out of her charge right in front of him and snapped his head back with a biotics enhanced punch right in his mask. He heard her muffled curse of pain and the crack of bones in her hand as it broke on his unbreakable mask. She was so close that when he brought his arm around trying to aim his wand the best he could do was her left shoulder. He snarled out, " _Fulminare!_ " and at the same time she gave a cry of effort and another warpfire lance blasted from her broken hand and blew a hole an inch in diameter through his left bicep. At the same time his lightning bolt blew its own hole through her shoulder, making her entire left arm go limp.

Both of them staggered back, clutching their respective wounds. Spectre T'rahn was the first to recover, and even though her right hand was broken and her left arm was hanging limp at her side, she charged towards him. Harry tried to bring his wand around to blast her away again but she was on him too quickly and slammed her body into his, sending them both down to the hard ground. He knew immediately what she was trying to do, as broken hand came across to grasp his right wrist, his wand arm. She twisted her body around and in a flash had him in a textbook arm-bar, his wand pointed harmlessly at the sky. Her girlish voice gritted out, "Yield!"

Instead, Harry let go of his wand and and wandlessly summoned it into his left hand. Even with his injured arm he swiftly had his wand pointed at her helmeted head, "Break my arm and I blow a hole through your skull."

Her body glowed blue and he let magic well up inside him and through his wand, the tip beginning to glow with suppressed power. A voice came over the loudspeaker, "Enough. The exercise is over."

Both of them immediately relaxed. His left arm dropped and he cradled it to his chest and he felt his right come loose from the vice grip of her arm bar as she flopped back. Both of them took a moment to catch their breath before Iyala said, "Athame's ass human, what is your mask made of."

Harry shoved her legs off of him and sat up, "Dragon bone."

She also sat up, cradling her right hand against her stomach, "Bone? That was a biotically enhanced punch. It would have cracked a krogans skull plate. It should have shattered your mask."

Harry shrugged, wincing as a jolt of pain went through his arm, "It's got an unbreakable charm on it."

She snorted, "An unbreakable charm? Does what it says?"

"Yeah."

She shook her head, "What a pain in the ass. I thought I was going to break your face but I broke my hand."

Harry transferred his wand back over to his right hand and began to prod the hole in his arm with it, "If you give me a minute I can fix that for you."

The Spectre cocked her head, "Really? Neat. It'd take hours in a bone regenerator and then a few weeks of rehab normally."

Harry nodded absently as he concentrated on the flesh-mending charm that he was casting on his arm. The biotically created wound resisted his efforts for a few moments before the wound closed. He could feel the muscles underneath his skin writhing as they regenerated and turned his attention to the Spectre, who was watching closely. He held out his left arm, ignoring the discomfort it caused, and said, "Give me your hand."

She held it out to him and he gently grabbed her wrist. He used a switching spell to switch her glove with air and her blue hand was bared so that both of them could examine it more closely. All of her knuckles were definitely broken and it looked like some of the metacarpals further back were also cracked. He nodded once before intoning, " _Ossis Emendo._ "

His magic washed over her hand and with a few quiet snaps her bones mended themselves. She immediately took it back and started to flex it, marveling at how quickly it had been healed. Harry gave her the usual instructions, "Take a few painkillers tonight and don't strain it and the soreness should be gone tomorrow."

She got up and and held out a hand to help him up. He took it and she hauled him to his feet saying, "Not bad for a human. Some of that shit even surprised me."

He nodded his acceptance of her compliment, "Let's get back to the booth. I want to see the Salarians try to figure out how I did most of that."

The Spectre laughed, "Those little lizards are probably losing their minds trying to figure out those animals you sicced on me."

Both of them made their way back to the booth and when they came into sight of it Iyala asked, "So, can you do something about this hole in my shoulder too? I saw you fix yours and it seems like the same kind of wound."

Harry shrugged, "I'd need a few diagnostic charms to be sure but most likely."

"Good, because you really fucked up my arm. I can't even move the tides-cursed thing."

Harry chuckled, "That's the effect of the lightning, not the wound. It messed up the nerves in your arm. It should wear off in a bit."

Both of them entered the control room and all of the attention was on them. All of the Salarians, including the councilor, were clustered around a group of screens obviously analyzing data from the fight. The Turians had their heads together, heatedly discussing something. The only one standing alone was Councilor Tevos who had her arms crossed and was tapping a foot impatiently. She spoke as soon as they entered, "Ash Ghost, what is your assessment."

All of them shuffled around a bit before the captain of their group spoke in a reedy voice, "Our instruments could not determine what Mr. Potter was doing. Spectre T'rahns biotics registered but his own… energy blasts did not register at all. In addition his transformations were not something our instruments could quantify. Our conclusion is that Mr. Potter was tapping into an unknown energy source that we cannot see nor interacts with."

She nodded, seemingly expecting the answer, "Spectre Kryik, Spectre Arterius, your assessments?"

The youngest of the two Spectre's spoke first, "Potter is obviously well versed in combat. His instincts and awareness are well honed. His… magic is obviously very dangerous. However, he seems to have limited experience against biotics and it does seem less effective. He hit T'rahn with multiple energy blasts that were ineffective. Once he moved past those though he became significantly more dangerous. Only a biotic would be able to escape that trick with the chains. Overall, I'd provisionally say he has the combat skills to be a Spectre."

The other Turian Spectre, Saren Arterius, grunted, "The monkey has a few tricks and they might be enough to overcome a rabble of Batarians but any _skilled_ fighter will see through his tricks and slay him."

At his words the Asari spectre stiffened and snarled out, "That first burst of fire would have fried you Arterius. Your biotic charge is a disgrace and your fancy armor would have melted all over you."

Saren eyed her impassively, "I would have gutted him before my armor even had a chance to heat up."

"You arrog-"

Tevos cut her off, "Enough. Both of you. Spectre T'rahn. Your assessment please."

Iyala's voice was surprisingly fierce, "Give him to me."

Tevos response was quick, "What?"

The Spectre reached up to take off her helmet before replying, awkwardly removing it with one hand. The smile on her face was ravenous, "Give him to me. I will make him into the kind of Spectre that Arterius could only dream to be. His combat skills are good, but think about what he could do with training against a biotic. It would take the Solarch or Lunarch to bring him down. And we haven't even scratched the surface to what his abilities are."

The Turian councilor, Sparatus, spoke for the first time barking out, "He is still a human! Look at him! As soon as he appeared and proclaimed himself a Spectre everyone would know we had a human. It cannot happen."

Iyala grimaced, "He's not with the Systems Alliance. He has no loyalty to them. Surely we ca-"

Harry interrupted her, "I can disguise myself easily enough. Observe."

He waved his wand up and down his body twice, murmuring each time, and his illusion took effect. To all the observers it seemed that his body changed. His shoulders narrowed, chest expanded, and hips widened until all the observers saw was the slender form of a female standing before them. He quickly tapped his throat and when he spoke next his voice was feminine, sultry and aristocratic, the perfect imitation of a woman he had known in the past, "Everyone will see an Asari Spectre."

Iyala, who was standing next to him, poked his illusory breasts, "Fascinating. I see them but they aren't there."

Harry slapped her hand away, "I'm not going to go around hugging people. They'll never know."

Sparatus objected, "Still. No Asari would be caught dead speaking the human language."

The Asari Spectre rolled her eyes, "Then he'll learn the language. _Give him to me and I will make him a legend!_ "

All three of the councilors shared a pointed look. Their body language shifted subtly and while Harry hadn't been around them enough to catch the subtext, evidently all of the Spectre's had. Saren's stance suddenly radiated agitation while Iyala's conveyed smug satisfaction. Tevos spoke for the triumvirate, "It is this council's decision that Harry Potter be given a Spectre's trial. He will have two years to prove to the Spectre's and this council that he has the necessary skills and commitment to do the job. At that time he will either be relieved of his duty or given all the rights and privileges of a Spectre. All the other details will be worked out at a later time. Dismissed."

Without further ado, all of the councilors turned and left the room. Half of the STG group left, forming a loose diamond around the Councilors, along with Nihlus Kryik who gave Harry a nod as he padded past. The other half of team Ash Ghost stayed clustered around their equipment, starting to pack it up. Saren Arterius was the last to leave and and he stalked out with a few parting words, "Humans have already proven incapable of bearing a Spectre's burden. This one will be the same, no matter what tricks he can do."

Iyala snorted, "Ignore him. Stupid Turian hates humans. He blames them for his brothers death. Now. We've got a lot to do. We have to get you in the system, get you some credentials, fake a psych evaluation. You have to fix my arm first though. You know, this armor is going to cost a lot to fix."

Harry sighed, "Your armor is going to cost a lot? I'm going to have to patch my robes and make sure that the enchantments on it haven't degraded. Biotics sure seem to have that effect."

The Asari looked at him intently, "Enchantments? Alright, screw everything else, you're going to tell me all about your magic, starting with how the hell you stopped my shotgun rounds without shielding or armor."

"Alright, alrig-"

"And we have to scrounge up some food, I'm always starving after a good fight."

Harry dutifully followed her out of the building, wondering why he always ended partnered with the crazy ones.


	2. Chapter 2

**{A/N} So, normally after the first AN with the standard disclaimers I don't bother putting another one, but since I got some actual constructive criticism I'm going to respond to it. 1)To all those that were unhappy with what happened to the Wizarding World, yeah, it kinda was lazy writing because I didn't have much of a place for them. That one's on me. 2)Those with complaints about armor vs robes. If you are an author as well, you'll know that sometimes you have a vision and you're going to write that vision however you can. My vision was Harry, kicking ass, with red robes flapping in the wind. 3)To the few of you who were unhappy about the fight and/or the magic used. I specifically said that they weren't trying to kill each other and that Harry had limited experience against biotics. He had to feel out Iyala and how to fight her. If you're worried that Harry isn't badass enough, don't worry he still kicks ass and we'll be getting to that. And if you have problems with my characterization of biotics, go read the Encyclopedia Biotica by LogicalPremise. I'm using a lot of stuff out of there. One last point, anyone that is a proponent of combat apparition needs a reality check. It's straight up hax and anyone, even a two hundred year old Harry Potter, is going to splinch themselves if they try and apparate with a rocket flying at their face.**

* * *

As a child Harry had never had a true British appreciation for tea. It was not even at Hogwarts that he'd developed his love for tea, because all they served was that horrid pumpkin juice. It was the years shortly after the war, when he'd spent an inordinately large amount of time with Andromeda Tonks and Molly Weasley that he'd come to appreciate a warm cup of tea. He was feeling slightly guilty now that he'd been converted away from British, and even human teas. After spending six years masquerading as an Asari he'd developed a taste for some of the more exotics tea's produced on Thessia. Sitting and watching a sunrise with a cup had become one of his favorite pastimes as he aged, and now that he had time for a vacation that was exactly what he was doing.

Sunrises on Thessia were beautiful, different than one on earth, but the purples and blues of the Thessian sky were soothing as the sun lightened the sky. A cool wind blew in off the sea twenty yards away and Harry shivered before pulling his robe tighter around him and casting a warming charm on his slippers to keep his feet nice and toasty. The alert charm he'd cast when he woke up let out a soft chime and he immediately snagged the pot of tea and poured some into the second cup that sat waiting. A few moments later Iyala came stumbling out of the villa onto the deck, dressed in a light robe that she didn't bother belting up. She collapsed heavily into the second chair and grabbed the steaming teacup, messily slurping the liquid down. Harry glanced over at her and chided, "That tea is expensive. Slow down and savor it."

All that earned him was a rude gesture as his companion noisily finished her cup. He chuckled and went back to watching the sunrise and quietly, _britishly,_ sipping his tea. He waited patiently for her to speak and it took ten minutes before she opened her mouth, "I think I hate you Harry."

She'd timed it so that he was taking a sip of his tea and it went down the wrong way. Coughing he spat out some of the exquisite tea and glared at her, "Why do you do that everytime I see you?"

"Because you're boring. You need some excitement in your life."

The wizard rolled his eyes, "I have plenty of excitement. Two weeks ago I infiltrated a hidden Blood Pack compound in the Traverse and blew the thing straight to the Goddess. It was exciting."

Iyala frowned, "Yes I read the report. You also got your leg pulped by a Krogan Battlemaster. That's why you're on forced leave."

Harry scoffed, "Please. I'm on vacation. I've been working non-stop for six years. I think I deserve one."

His Asari companion sighed, "You're not on vacation. You're just not taking assignments. All you do is drink tea and experiment with your enchanting. You already do that in between assignments."

With a shrug Harry nonchalantly replied, "What else would I _do_ on vacation? That's how I relax."

She smiled wryly, "So all that cursing I hear coming out of the study is relaxation?"

It was Harry's turn to throw out a rude gesture, "Athame take you. Once I get that enchantment right we're going to spar and I'm going to laugh when your warps can't touch me."

"You've been working on that for six years, it's not going to happen. From everything I've seen biotics will naturally over time break down all of your enchantments."

Harry grumbled, taking another sip of his tea, "I'm not an arithmancy genius. The Mass Effect and Biotics have been mathematically worked out and proven but I can't marry those equations into an arithmantic framework for protection charms."

Iyala smirked, "All I hear is that you can't do it and I'm going to be kicking your ass around the training ground for the next 200 years."

He snarked to her, "In 200 years you'll be so old and decrepit you'll be drinking Thessian wine through a straw."

She laughed, a high tinkling sound, "You know that's not how it works for Asari right?"

Harry chuckled ruefully, "Yes, I do. I can dream can't I?"

"You dream about me being old and decrepit?"

"I dream about you _not_ trying to get me drunk and hook me up with air-headed maidens too stupid to do anything other than bar hop and dance."

Iyala, who had been reclining back in her chair, jerked upright and growled, "That's right! Don't think you can distract me with expensive tea! I've got a bone to pick with you. I went to all that trouble to seduce those girls last night and you didn't even join in! For Athame's sake you could actually _be_ and Asari if you wanted to. That'd be pretty kinky."

Harry shuddered, thinking back to some of his training with Iyala.

* * *

 _Three Months as a Spectre -_

 _Harry was lounging on a large comfy couch in one of Iyala's anonymous apartments on the Citadel, perusing various files on his omni-tool, trying to learn some of the few regulations that Spectre's were required to follow and familiarize himself with the reams of paperwork they were required to complete. His Spectre sponsor sat at the two person dining table and read a much thinner parchment file that Harry had put together for her, detailing the different branches of magic and his abilities within them. She gave him a few considering glances every now and then and when she was finished she shut it and said, "I know what we're going to work on first."_

 _The wizard stretched his arms and sat up, "Finally. It's like being an auror all over again but the paperwork is digital."_

 _The Asari smirked, "That's only if you blow something up in a populated area. If you're smart, like I am, you don't do that. Jackasses like Saren are always flashy so he spends just as much time filling out paperwork as actually working."_

 _Harry grinned, "So what are we working on first."_

 _It was Iyala's turn to grin, and hers was decidedly nasty, "How is your, what do you call it, self-transfiguration?"_

 _Nonplussed, he replied, "Not my strongest suit, but I've been practicing for nearly two centuries so I can probably do whatever you're thinking of."_

 _Her face was suddenly serious, "Good. Now, we've established that you can pass as an Asari. That language charm saved us a lot of time. You can talk like one of us, and I've made sure that you can move like one of us."_

 _When they weren't doing paperwork and getting Harry's security clearances she'd had him practicing his glamours and illusions and making sure they could hold up during pitched combat. She's also had him learning how to walk and run like an Asari huntress. It was a fluid, rolling stride, all lethality and grace. It reminded him of Stealth and Tracking class during Auror training, and that took him back to Nymphadora Tonks, who'd always bragged about acing it. Nobody had beat her scores in the five decades Harry had been an auror, but then, being a metamorphmagus had its perks..._

 _Iyala continued, getting him back on task, "There will be times though, when you have to unmask yourself. Being a Spectre isn't all about storming far-flung bases and assassinating annoying bureaucrats. You'll have to deal with government officials or go incognito in places where humans just can't be. So, you are going to turn yourself into an Asari."_

 _Harry quirked an eyebrow dubiously before saying slowly, "That… could be possible."_

 _She grinned, "I knew it! Alright, let's get started!"_

 _He held up his hands, "Now just hold on to your broomstick. I need to do some research first."_

 _Iyala was determined though, "No way. I want to see this right now! Use my face. Go on!"_

 _An idea started to percolate in his mind, "Alright, alright. Come here then."_

 _She practically bounced over to him. He flicked his wand out and said seriously, "Hold still."_

 _He slowly traced his wand over her face, explaining as he went, "If you aren't going to let me study Asari physiology the best I can do on short notice is to use a medical charm to map the bone structure in your face and then use that for my self-transfiguration."_

 _The Asari held very still as he traced across her face. After a few moments he stepped back and said gravely, "Alright. Here it goes."_

 _Very carefully he drew his wand over his face, all the while keeping hers fixed in his mind and eyes. His cheekbones sharpened, nose narrowed, and lips became more full. Then he moved on to his hair which he transfigured into the crests that adorned her head. Last was the color, a light blue that darkened slightly towards the tips of her crest, and the sparse black markings that slashed across her cheeks._

 _He finished and asked, "Well?"_

 _Her lips twitched before she burst out into hysterical laughter. Iyala collapsed on the couch holding her stomach and he asked frantically, "What? What's wrong?"_

 _Harry quickly conjured a mirror and looked into it, studying his transfigured face. It all seemed right and he looked back at her, "What's so damn funny!"_

 _It took her a few moments to get under control, "I've- I've never seen a-an Asari with_ ears _before! Goddess! You look ridiculous!"_

 _Harry examined himself again before chuckling as well, "Bollocks. Alright. You're right. I do look ridiculous."_

 _She started howling again, "Change it back. Ch-change it back I can't even lo-look at you!"_

 _He quickly reversed the transfiguration and color-change charm until he was back to normal. Iyala calmed down quickly before saying, "You still swear like a human. That's something we're going to have to work on too. Anyways, at least we know the transfiguration works. Now, do your body."_

" _Oh no. That's where I draw the line. Glamours will work just fine. Like I said, I'm not going to go around hugging people."_

 _She tried wheedling, "Come on. It'll be fun. I'll even let you_ study _me again."_

 _The Asari ran a hand lewdly over her breasts and shot Harry a suggestive look. He laughed openly at her, "That might do something for me if your face didn't look so ridiculous."_

 _She froze immediately and then her hands shot to her face, "What did you do."_

 _He offered her the mirror, "Have a look."_

 _She grabbed it and held it up, staring at the lines and swirls he'd drawn on her face in vivid green magical paint. Her body started to glow blue, "I think you're about to get to know Athame a little more personally."_

 _Harry grinned cheekily at her, "No. Athame's bar is probably full up right now. I'll try again later."_

 _With those parting words he twisted and quickly apparated away._

* * *

Harry took in the state of his Spectre trainer. Her undone robe barely covered her muscular body and she still smelled of sweat, booze, and sex. He replied wryly, "I don't think you had any trouble with them at all. In fact you look like you enjoyed both of them thoroughly."

She pouted, the innocent expression wildly out of place in her debauched state, "When was the last time you got laid Harry? Vacation is about relaxing and nothing is more relaxing than a roll in the sheets."

The wizard smiled softly, "Oh. Fifteen years ago or so. A very nice naval lieutenant helped me out while I was on Arcturus Station and I showed her my appreciation."

Iyala sputtered, "Athame's ass! Fifteen years! Did you see those two I brought back last night? Stop acting like one of those Thessian prudes, it's depressing."

Harry retorted dryly, "I've been masquerading as one of those Thessian prudes for the last six years. Besides, you're one of them too."

Picking out an official identity for his Spectre file had been more difficult than he thought. Not knowing much about the Asari culture he was going to just give himself a generic name and be from a generic planet but Iyala had taken one look at the form and taken complete control. She'd immediately ruled out Illium or one of the other more far-flung Asari colony worlds due to the Thessian dialect of the Asari language that she was teaching him. She'd wanted to try and set him up as a wayward daughter of one of the Thirty Families on Thessia to maybe explain away some of the more bizarre things magic could do as very advanced biotics that only one of the Thirty could pull off. He'd nixed that idea immediately, there was no way he wanted to draw that kind of attention when he inevitably caught somebody's notice. Instead Iyala had set him up as her own younger half-sister. Iyala's father was purported to be Harry's mother and no one was likely to contradict it because Iyala's father had been dead for three centuries. The Spectre's family was one of the multitude of lesser families from Thessia so Iyala had called in a huge favor from the Matriarch, her own elder sister, to add Harry's alias to their families register. One Aleria T'rahn was born, 423 years old, a former commando who had finally found the only relatives she had left and gotten in touch to try and Asari Spectre had gotten creative with his work history, picking small Commando units that operated in the Traverse as freelance protection details that had all been wiped out by pirates. If anyone actually looked at his official file it would show a skilled but unlucky commando who conveniently did not have anyone living to vouch for her except her Spectre half-sister.

Harry waved her off as he continued, "I've been doing other things. More important things. You know that."

She wasn't having any of it, "I've been doing important things for the past three centuries but I take time off every other year or so to see my kid and have a little fun."

Harry laughed, "How is Ithinia?"

Instantly Iyala's demeanor changed and she lightened up, "Good. She's good. Her and her bondmate moved to Epira last year and had a daughter. Inaya."

"Have you visited?"

She shook her head sadly, "No, I haven't had the time. Tevos pulled me off assignment to babysit you and I'm going right back after they give you another mission."

Harry thought back to how he'd met the Spectre's daughter.

* * *

 _Two Years as a Spectre -_

 _Harry was holed up in a back-alley apartment on Illium, waiting on Iyala to contact him so that he could commence with his mission. The head researcher at a bio-tech firm had gone missing and the Council was rightfully worried. After investigating, the local I-sec captain had put in a panicked call to C-sec who had kicked it up to the council. Said firm had somehow gotten their greedy blue hands on a sample of the genophage and were experimenting with it. It was wildly illegal in Council Space, and even on Illium where almost everything was legal if you had the right paperwork it was still alarming enough that the company was going to be shut down. The Council had assigned him and Iyala to investigate the head researcher and find out what had happened to her, whether she'd been kidnapped for the research or stolen it and fled. This would be his graduation mission, per se, and if he did well Iyala would recommend that he be promoted to full Spectre and allowed to handle his own missions. She had let him go on ahead to investigate and he'd found that she had been kidnapped by a group of Krogan mercenaries trying to find a cure for the genophage. How they had learned she was working on it was still unknown to Harry. He'd traced their ship back to an illegal dock used by smugglers and they weren't on it so he knew they were still on planet. Another day of investigating had led him to where they were holed up in an abandoned factory in one of the many rundown manufacturing districts of Nos Astra. He'd messaged Iyala and was waiting on her to call back with instructions or to just show up so that they could go after the mercs._

 _The tiny screen of his omni-tool lit up with the signal for an incoming call and he hastily pressed a few buttons to accept it. Iyala's face popped up on the view-screen but instead of her normal greeting she barked out immediately, "Change of plans. Are you combat ready?"_

 _Harry nodded, "Of course. What's going on?"_

 _Iyala's face was thunderous, "Fucking pirates. My daughter was out in the Traverse helping the Alliance set up pre-fab buildings in advance of a colonization wave. Goddess damned pirates showed up and captured them all. She activated the emergency tracker I gave her and it's telling me she's on Raelick!"_

 _She ended the sentence as if it was supposed to mean something to Harry but he'd only gotten one thing out of her rant, "You have a daughter?"_

 _She rolled her eyes and snapped back, "Of course I do! When you get to my age you won't find an Asari that doesn't! Damned hormones. That doesn't matter though, what matters is that she's being held by slavers and is about to be sold off to do who knows what!"_

 _Harry immediately said, "Alright, brief me."_

 _The Asari Spectre quickly dumped information on him, "Raelick is the current planet that The Circle has parked their collective asses on."_

 _The Circle was a conglomerate of independent pirates and slavers who had all banded together to provide a larger market for their product as well as for the safety numbers provided. Raelick was a small planet with a barely habitable atmosphere and next to no natural resources so it was passed over by colonizers but was perfect for the pirates. Raelick was located in a system ostensibly controlled by the warlord Yan T'ravt and the Xenthan Empire but she left them alone so that Alliance pirate hunters had a more concrete target than her own raiding bands when they made their rare incursions into the Terminus._

 _Iyala finished her briefing with, "I need you to infiltrate the planet, find my daughter, and free her."_

 _He nodded, "I'm guessing that this isn't sanctioned?"_

 _She shook her head, "The council doesn't know. Her emergency beacon activated 36 hours ago and has only now stopped moving for more than an hour. T'ravt is incredibly paranoid about assassins so if she sniffs a Spectre action in her territory she'll go ballistic. She hates the Republics more than the Council, so they try not to antagonize her. They wouldn't authorize a mission there unless someone more important was captured anyway."_

 _Harry frowned, "That's cold, but I understand. Why haven't you already gone then? This seems like something you'd want to handle personally."_

" _Time. I had to wait until they stopped moving to get a fix on her location. It'll take me 30 hours to make the relay and FTL jumps from the Citadel. You can be there in 16. I've already arranged transport with one of my contacts. He'll get you there and you'll have 24 hours to make the extraction before he leaves. I don't trust him that much so keep your transfigurations and glamours in place the entire time. We'll meet back on Illium afterwards. Leave me your files in the safe house and I'll finish up the assignment you're already on."_

 _Nodding, Harry stood up and flicked his wand out. He waved it twice and everything he would need for his upcoming mission animated and began to organize themselves. He said quickly, "Send me an information packet on her and your contact and I'll head out right now."_

 _A few moments later his omni-tool notified him that he'd received it and Iyala said gravely, "Don't fuck this up Harry."_

 _His screen winked off and he murmured to himself, "No, I had best not."_

 _Harry set to work, casting the now familiar self-transfiguration on his head and neck. His cheekbones shifted, face narrowed, and hair writhed, as he slowly became Aleria T'rahn. A glance in the mirror confirmed that everything was in place. Dark blue skin that lightened at the crest and neck, small pert nose, thin lips, and subtle black markings beneath his eyes. A quick switching spell and his casual shirt and slacks were replaced with his leathers and he was throwing his red robes around his shoulders. A quick tap of his wand and they sealed up, activating the protective field. His belt went on and his mask and pouch were attached to their respective hips. He flicked his wand out again and cast a powerful Notice-Me-Not charm on his baldric and the Sword of Gryffindor before slinging it onto his back. He pulled on his boots and gloves and once everything was in place he cast his glamours and voice-changing charm._

 _Sliding back the sleeve on his left arm he checked his omni-tool for were he was supposed to meet Iyala's contact and luckily it was at the same dock as his own ship. With a last glance around the apartment to make sure everything was in order he locked the door and then apparated to the_ Gallant. _He quickly left his ship and made his way across the starport to small freighter where a mixed crew of a dozen Turians and Batarians were loading sealed crates. He strode up to the ramp and said abruptly, "Bring me the Captain."_

 _All of them glanced at him dubiously but were forestalled from any action by the captain, a tall skinny Turian in battered armor, coming down the ramp and asking, "You are our passenger on this trip?"_

 _Harry nodded and he continued, "Good. Come with me, we depart in thirty minutes."_

 _He followed the Captain up the ramp and was led to a small room with a table, four chairs, and a small cot in one corner. The Captain started to say, "I am-"_

 _Harry interrupted the Turian, "No names. I won't be here long."_

 _The Turian's mandibles flickered in agitation, "I don't want whatever you're going to do to come back on my crew, no matter how much you're paying me."_

 _The wizard reassured him, "It will not. If your crew behaves normally while we are on Raelick there shall be no trouble."_

 _Hesitating, as if he wanted to say something more but quickly deciding against it, the Turian left. Harry slid the door shut behind him and took a seat in one of the chairs. He brought up his omni-tool and opened the file on Iyala's daughter. Ithinia T'rahn, 398 years old, a systems engineer at an Asari company contracted by the Alliance to supply their colonies with building material. In her picture she looked very much like her mother except for the markings. Where Iyala had black markings like slashes across her face her daughters were a white geometric design. He spent the rest of the time until takeoff perusing her file and whatever else he could dig up on the pirate bands that made up the Circle, trying to pinpoint which one it might have been that took Iyala's daughter._

 _He was able to catch a few hours sleep and he wasn't disturbed until about twenty minutes before their scheduled arrival. The Turian Captain knocked on his door and Harry barked out from the chair he sat in, "Enter."_

 _The door slid open and the Turian entered, saying without preamble, "We will set down on the planet soon."_

 _Harry nodded, "Good. What time will it be?"_

 _The Captain's mandibles clicked once, "It will be halfway through the day cycle, roughly. They don't keep time well here."_

 _Harry nodded, "Good. Have your crew find out who has come in during the last local day with a large cargo of recently captured slaves."_

 _The Turians mandibles clicked again in agitation and he stiffened, saying angrily, "I will not-"_

" _Captain, you're being paid very well for this. There is no danger to you. I won't be moving until the night cycle, and if I don't have that information this operation will most likely be a bit messier than you're hoping for."_

 _No doubt not used to being interrupted, and incensed at the implied threat, the Turian radiated anger before saying tightly, "Very well. You'll have your information soon."_

 _Harry graciously inclined his head and the Captain quickly backed out and shut the door behind him. The Wizard stuck a hand into his pouch and rummaged around in it before pulling out a ration bar and quickly consuming the unpleasant but nutritious meal. He settled in for another long wait and a few hours later the captain was back with his information. A Batarian slaver named Thorak was the only captain who had brought back any slaves in the past two local days. He was a small time slaver who normally stuck to the edges of the Terminus so his lightning dash deep into the Traverse for a slave grab was unusual. He'd come back crowing his success and quickly sold his cargo so that he could go back out again quickly. All of the slaves he'd brought back were at a central auction where they would be re-sold to the highest bidder in a days time._

 _When the captain finished his summation Harry said, "My thanks Captain. I will ask nothing else of you."_

 _The Turian responded gruffly, "Good. If you aren't in the ship by noon tomorrow we leave without you."_

 _Harry inclined his head and the Captain left without another word. With all of that in mind, Harry had his plan. He would infiltrate the auction during the deepest part of the night when most of the guards would be asleep or too drunk to contest him. He would find Ithinia and then side-along apparate her back to his room aboard the freighter. It was simple enough but Harry knew that he was on a hostile planet with no backup and he might have to get creative if things went to the deeps. With that done he settled in again to wait, only years of long stakeouts as an Auror giving him the patience to not charge forward throwing curses._

 _When his omni-tool alerted him that it was time he slowly stood and drew his hood up, snagging his mask off of his hip and sealing it over his face. He slid out of his room and made his way towards the front of the ship, his light steps making no sound as he traversed the freighter. The small bridge was empty when he entered and he hurried to the viewport and looked outside the ship. They seemed to have landed on the outskirts of the settlement, as Harry could see a haphazard array of shadowed buildings spread out roughly 100 yards away from the ship._

 _Harry couldn't see anyone on the rocky field before him and so he quickly apparated outside of the ship. He reappeared with a soft snap right in front of the vessel and flicked his wand out of its holster to quickly cast disillusionment and silencing charms on his person. He stalked swiftly across the field and into town, sliding along walls to avoid drunken pirates staggering back to their ships after a long night as well as any of the scant lighting to be found. It took him half an hour to find his likely target, a large walled compound near the center of the settlement. He took another ten minutes to walk around it, casing the entire thing. There was a single gate off of the main boulevard that had two Batarian guards negligently leaning against it._

 _He quickly decided against going through the front game and instead went back around to the rear of the compound. The wall was 10 feet high so he concentrated just a bit harder than normal to silently apparate to the top of it. He quickly crouched down, confident in his disillusionment charm, and surveyed the inside of the compound. A large two-story building dominated the center of it, obviously the auction hall and probably where the owner of said compound lived. Along the left side, from Harry's angle, A long low grey building stretched halfway along the wall. Harry guessed it was a barracks of some kind, for the guards. Of said guards, he saw four, patrolling the grounds in clockwise fashion. He hopped down from the wall into the compound and waited for an opening before ghosting across towards the central building. He slid around to the front and after verifying there wasn't a guard on the door, quickly entered the house._

 _Soft pale lights lit the empty entrance hall. There were three doors that led into the interior, left, right, and center. He chose the left and set off the explore the first level of the house. It was a giant square, centered around a large slave auction hall. There were two staircases in the back, one leading up and one leading down, at either end of the hallway. A single guard slouched in front of the door to the basement, where Harry assumed the slaves were kept. The guard was already sleepy, so Harry helped him along a bit with a subtle spell that slowly had the Batarian nodding off. He stepped up to the door and a whispered, "Alohamora," made the lock click. Even electronic locks fell before the power of the first year charm. He slid the door open, stepped through, and closed it behind him. Padding down the stairs he entered a large, dimly lit room. It was another square, but in this one two dozen humans and a pair of Asari were shackled to the walls. All of them were nude, slumped against the cold concrete walls and shivering, metal collars shining dully in the dim light.. Harry again cast his sleep spell, this time layering it over all of the men and women in the room. They were all shackled at various places along the three walls, suggesting that it had been full but some had been taken to another location. He quickly zeroed in on the two Asari, and found his target._

 _Harry strode over to her and quickly cast another spell, this one so that no sound would leave the small area around her while they talked. He let his disillusionment fade and crouched down, gently shaking her shoulder to wake her. He was glad for the silencing spell because she awoke, took one look at him, and screamed. For a moment, blue flared around her but the collar around her neck shocked her to disrupt her biotics. The scream petered out into a moan of pain and Harry said quickly, "I am a colleague of your mother's. Do you understand that?"_

 _She gasped for breath for a few moments before nodding shakily, "I am here to get you out. Have you been implanted with anything yet?"_

 _The Asari shook her head no. Harry breathed a sigh of relief, "Hold still."_

 _He tapped the manacles around her wrists with his wand, freeing her, and then vanished the collar around her neck. Her eyes went wide and she whispered, "By the goddess, what-"_

 _Harry interrupted her, "All will be explained in time. Can you stand?"_

 _Her voice was hoarse, "With some help."_

 _He held out his hands and she clasped his wrists. He stood and pulled her up and helped steady her on her shaky legs. He smiled behind the mask, "Now, I need you to close your eyes and when I say, take a deep breath."_

 _She did as he said and after having her take a deep breath he apparated them out of the basement and back into his room on the freighter. When they appeared, she immediately shoved him away, clasped a hand to her mouth, and then bent over to vomit all over the floor. Harry rubbed circles on her back and when she was finished he vanished the vomit as she nearly shouted, "By the goddess! What was that?"_

 _He winced at her volume and quickly brought up another silencing ward so that they didn't wake the crew before answering, "That was apparition."_

 _She blinked and when she didn't respond he conjured a set of dark robes and held them out to her, "Here, put these on."_

 _Ithinia silently took them and drew them around herself before saying, "What are you?"_

" _I'm a friend of your mother's. That's what matters at the moment."_

 _The rest of the tension that had permeated her body relaxed, "Well. If you can teleport, you can go back. Right?"_

 _Harry grimaced behind the mask, "I hate leaving them there, but I wouldn't be able to get them all off on this freighter. The crew would probably try to sell them back if I tried to bring them all on and I don't want to burn one of your mothers contacts."_

 _She shook her head, "I'm not leaving without Clara."_

 _Harry got a sinking feeling in his gut, "Clara?"_

 _A wistful smile stole over her face, "My lover."_

" _What does she look like. I can apparate back into the basement and bring her back as well."_

 _Ithinia shook her head, "They came and took her."_

 _Harry growled, "If they took her somewhere I won't have time to search the entire settlement before we have to leave."_

 _The Asari shook her head, "The batarian that owns the auction. He came down and picked her out earlier tonight."_

 _Harry couldn't help but swear, "Athame's fucking ass. What does she look like."_

 _A quick description came back, "Shorter than me, taller than you. Brown hair, comes down to her shoulders, brown eyes. Small nose and the cutest cheeks."_

 _Harry nodded decisively, "Stay in here. I'm going to seal the door so that you can't go out and they can't come in. Get some rest. I'll be back shortly."_

 _He turned and cast Colloportus on the door before tapping the top of his head and letting the familiar cold disillusionment charm trickle down his body. He smirked at her astonished face before apparating back to the front of the auction compound. Both of the guards were still there, both still leaning against the wall in front of the compounds gate. Harry stood there in the middle of the road, invisible, and pondered his options. He could have justified extracting Ithinia, he'd done that without alerting anybody, and when they discovered her gone the slavers would have probably thought that the guards had helped themselves to a slave and disposed of her. He was certainly going to have to kill the auctions owner now, because Ithinia's lover was most likely still in his chambers, and spiriting her away from there would probably engender a massive search. Infiltration of that level screamed Spectre-level skills, which was exactly what he was trying to hide._

 _His mouth twitched, the errant thought taking root. He'd been thinking too much like a Spectre, a tool of the council, a knife in the dark. When did he start leaving people behind? When had he not made an example of slavers and pirates when he found them? He wasn't even on a Spectre assignment. He was here helping a friend save her daughter, and she didn't care how he did it. Spectre's didn't come for a paltry two dozen slaves. No, angry mercenaries being paid to send a message did._

 _A wolfish smile spread over his face and his wand flickered out, a blasting curse roaring into existence. The front gate, the guards, and ten feet of concrete wall were blasted into oblivion. Immediately an alarm began to wail. Harry strode through the dust, letting his disillusionment fall off but layering a second glamour over himself. This one would give him the appearance of a large muscular human in heavy armor, with a really big gun. That way any witnesses he left would understand the really big holes he was going to be leaving in people. The four patrolling guards converged on him, shooting as they came. He used piercing curses, the much more violent older cousin to the piercing hex, to blow a fist sized hole through each batarians chest. More guards began to boil out of the barracks to his right, carrying rifles and wearing a mish-mashed assortment of hastily thrown on armor. Harry sent a spread of blasting curses at them, blowing rocky ground and bloody body parts into the air. He swept over towards the barracks, and through the dust cut down any remaining guard he saw. Lastly, he swung his wand around towards the barracks themselves and conjured fire. It roared over the barracks, hot and hungry, and Harry fed it enough magic to keep it burning until the entirety of the concrete and pre-fab plastic was nothing but black ash._

 _Leaving the flames to do their work, he turned to the auction house and sprinted over to the door, slipping inside. The lights, which had been dim the first time he came through were now nearly blinding. He ignored that though and sprinted straight through the door ahead of him, through the main auction room, and burst into the back hallway. The guard who had been sleeping by the door to the basement holding pens was now fully alert, but it did him no good as Harry put a piercing curse through his head. He turned to seal the door leading down so that nobody could get to the slaves while he was busy upstairs. That done, he went down the hall and ascended to the owners quarters._

 _Upstairs he had to deal with another half dozen guards in a pair of ostentatious rooms bedecked in stolen treasure. Fully half of the upstairs was dedicated to the bedroom of a huge batarian who, when Harry burst in, was holding a battered and bruised nude human woman against his chest with a pistol to her head. He barked as soon as Harry entered, "If you make one more move I'll blow her brains out!"_

 _Harry rolled his eyes and with a flick of his wand summoned the gun out of the batarians hand. Both human and batarian gaped and while they were distracted Harry sent a punching hex straight into the slavers face that caused him to drop his captive and clutch his face trying to stem the blood pouring out of his nose. Harry rushed forward, past the woman on the floor, and shoved the batarian backwards until he hit a wall. With a few flicks of his wand he conjured manacles, clamped them around the slavers wrists, and levitated them to pull his arms upwards before embedding the other end into the wall. The end result was the batarian standing on his toes, arms straining against the manacles, and angry blathering, "Do you know who I am? I will tear your eyes out and feed them to your children!"_

 _Harry snorted, absently finiting his secondary glamour so that his robed Asari form faded back into view. The batarians jaw went slack as Harry stepped back, removing his mask and throwing back his hood. He ran one hand over his crest and the other attached his mask to his hip before saying, "I don't care who you are. You have one chance to tell me where your ship is, and I may leave you with your life."_

 _He sneered at the wizard, "My guards will be here in but moments and I will enjoy defiling you while listening to your screams."_

 _Harry rolled his eyes, "Wrong answer."_

 _He pointed his wand straight at the Batarian and locked his eyes with one pair of his prisoners, "Legilimins!"_

 _The mind of a batarian was different than a humans or an asari's but he quickly found the answers he was looking for, withdrawing before the depravity of it all could close in around him. The slavers head lolled forward and more blood dripped out of his nose onto the floor. The batarians head came back up and he only got out a startled expletive before Harry angrily beheaded him with a cutting curse. He went over to the bedside table and grabbed the batarians omni-tool before turning to the human woman he had rescued, who was now scooting backwards on the floor away from him, terror awash across her face. He strode towards her and said calmly, "I am here to help. You are Clara, yes?"_

 _The woman stopped, nodding cautiously but not saying anything. Harry crouched down to her level, "I'm here to rescue you. I've already got Ithinia, and she would not leave without you. Will you come with me?"_

 _She nodded again, and Harry held out a hand, pulling her to her feet. He conjured another set of robes that the women quickly took to cover her nudity, not even questioning where they came from. He smiled kindly at her, "Come, I will take you to her. Close your eyes and take a deep breath."_

 _He grasped her shoulders and apparated them back to his room on the freighter. They reappeared and Clara had the exact same reaction as her lover, staggering away from Harry and throwing up on the floor._

" _Clara!"_

 _Ithinia rushed over to her and pulled her into a tight hug, ignoring the vomit that had dribbled down the front of her robes. Harry idly vanished the vomit, again, and said, "I'm going back for the rest."_

 _He apparated out again this time to the back of the compound, cast another disillusionment charm, and set off quickly to the single starport in the settlement where Ghrak Ul'Marin, the auction owner kept his personal slaving ship. It took him five minutes to get there at a quick lope. Even at the extremely early hour it was a chaotic mess as pirates scrambled to board their ships and blast off, probably because of his attack on auction. Harry went to the private bay that Ghrak kept and entered the code that he had ripped from the batarians mind. There was a large anteroom with empty cages lining one wall and plush couches the other. A skybridge jutted out from the far wall and through a large window Harry could see it connected to a old model Batarian frigate. Harry glanced around and summoned a long coil of chain that lay at the bottom of one of the cages. He grabbed on end and tapped his wand to it casting, "Portus."_

 _With another flick it coiled up and he hefted it over his shoulder and snagged the mask from his hip, bringing up his hood again and sealing the mask over his face. He twisted away and appeared again in front of the door to the auctions basement. Unsealing the door, he stepped inside and closed it behind him, walking downstairs to find the prisoners awake and terrified. As soon as he entered all of their eyes zeroed in on him. Harry thought for a moment and once his plan was set, burst into action._

 _He led with a wide area confundus charm that had them all misty eyed and slack jawed. The wizard quickly went to each prisoner and vanished the manacles, and when all of them were free he waved his wand in a circle and the chain dropped from his shoulder, snaking around the room to wrap tightly around the wrist of each slave. He tapped the end that he kept in his hand and activated the portkey to send all of them into the antechamber of Ghrak's private hangar bay. When they twisted back into reality he made the chain drop away from each of the prisoners and cast a finite to get rid of the confundus charm. All of them started to look around frantically and Harry quickly drew himself up, took a deep breath, and cast a powerful, "Obliviate!"_

 _The spell washed across everyone in the room and Harry altered each of their memories a tiny bit, to make them believe that they had all run through the town to reach the starport. Harry flicked his wand back into its holster and clapped his hands to get their attention as most of them shook and rubbed their heads as their minds assimilated the memory, "Alright people. Can anyone here pilot this ship?"_

 _All of them went over to the window and looked it over before one of the men, older and with the beginnings of gray hair, turned and said, "I can probably get her to fly. Studied these things back in the Alliance so I know how it's supposed to work."_

 _Harry went over to him and handed the man the omni-tool he had taken from Ghrak the slaver, "Here's the owner's omni-tool, he won't be needing it anymore. I've unlocked it and it should contain all of the codes you need to get this up and running. Take it and head back to Alliance space. You can probably find someone to pick you up quickly."_

 _One of the women turned to him, "What are you going to do? And who the hell are you anyway?"_

 _Harry smiled behind the mask, "I'm a friend of a friend. I came here to rescue someone and you all were lucky enough to get caught up in it. Now. Quickly. Get out of here. Nobody's checking departures because they're all trying to get out of here themselves."_

 _The pilot and the woman who had questioned him, obviously people of authority within the group, glanced at each other before the woman shrugged, "I won't look a gift horse in the mouth. Thanks for the help whoever you are."_

 _Harry inclined his head gracefully, "Go with the grace of the Goddess."_

 _The pilot went and unlocked the skybridge and they all stampeded into the ship. Before he apparated away, Harry heard one of the women mutter to another, "I can't believe we ran through the town completely naked."_

 _The other replied, "Shut up. It's better than being chained up like animals."_

 _He reappeared in the lounge on his own ride and Ithinia and Clara both jumped up from where they sat, tense and ready to fight, before relaxing when they saw him again. Ithinia asked tersely, "The others?"_

 _Harry took off his mask and hood before answering, "Safe. They're on a ship and should be able to make it to Alliance space easily."_

 _Both breathed a sigh of relief and slumped back down in their chairs. The Asari replied to him, "Thank you. I know you didn't want to go back."_

 _Harry smiled at her, "No, but it was better that I did."_

 _Pounding on the door interrupted him and he quickly undid the Colloportus charm and slid the door open to find the Captain, furious, in front of him. The Turian spat out, "In the name of the Spirits! What did you do? The city is a madhouse and everyone is fleeing!"_

 _Harry shrugged, "There were complications. You may want to take off now. Just follow the rest of the ships."_

 _A strangled gurgling noise came from the Captain and Harry continued, "I'll double your pay if you leave now. Triple if you make Illium your first destination."_

 _The call of money was to much for the captain to resist and he grunted an affirmative before stomping away. Harry closed the door and turned back to find both Ithinia and Clara staring at him. He ignored their looks and went to sit in one of the chairs. Once he'd dropped into it and removed his mask again he said, "I assume you have questions?"_

 _It took him ten minutes to assure them that yes, he really was a Spectre, they really were headed to Illium where Ithinias mother was, and yes, it really was magic that he used. Iyala would explain it if she chose to. After that he transfigured the cot into a large mattress and conjured a heavy blanket and told the pair to get some rest. As soon as they'd gotten over their wonder at the transfiguration the pair lay down and were soon asleep, clinging to each other to try and ward off the horror that had been inflicted on them. Harry dimmed the lights and brought up his omni-tool to send a terse message to Iyala._

 _-Mission accomplished. Will arrive at Illium in 16 hours. Rendezvous at safe house at that time.-_

* * *

Overcome with nostalgia, Harry absently held his hand out to her and she cocked her head slightly in confusion before reaching her own out and initiating a very shallow link. Harry dredged up centuries old memories and sent across his impressions: The love he felt holding his first granddaughter, the bone deep satisfaction of having seen his children grow up to start families of their own. She abruptly broke the link and sat back, solemn. After a full minute of contemplative silence she spoke again, "I've been thinking about getting out. Goddess, I've been a Spectre for half of my life. I could walk into any Huntress troop in the Republics and they'd give me a senior position."

The human wizard smiled gently at her, "I've known for a while."

"What? How?"

His smile turned to a smirk, "Why else would you be introducing me to your contacts around the Traverse and Terminus? I'm your successor. And, even though I'm human I'm not short lived, I'll be able to use them for a few centuries. Are you sure it doesn't work that way for Asari? Even those maidens passed out in your bedroom could have figured it out."

She snorted, "Cheeky bitch. Just for that you have to buy all my drinks for the rest of this _vacation._ "

"Deal. I am going to need your contact on Noveria though. Tevos sent me a message a few days ago. There have been a few anomalies that C-sec has turned up in Binary-Helix's finances and shipping logs coming out of there. She wants me to check it out."

Iyala actually laughed in delight, "Better you than me. Fucking corporate worlds are a goddess damned pain in the ass, and Noveria worst of all. I'll gladly give you his information if it means I don't have to go anywhere near it."

Harry shrugged, "You laugh now, but remember, I spent half a century investigating uptight purebloods who wouldn't cooperate with an Auror unless you caught them wand in hand standing over a dead body. I know how to slip through the cracks of a stonewalled investigation."

She was about to respond hotly when a voice sounded from the villa, "Hey! You should see this! The geth attacked a human colony!"

Adrenaline shot through Harry's body, as both Spectre's bolted up and and practically sprinted into the villa. They skidded into the living room where Harry gently pushed another robe-clad Asari out of the way of the vid-screen so that he and Iyala could watch it. Two Asari were on the screen discussing the attack.

"- _outrageous! Humanity accused Spectre Saren of this heinous act with absolutely no evidence. Their Butcher stood in front of the council and said she would kill Saren if she saw him!_ "

" _Saren is the Spectre most notorious for collateral damage. A human colony was massacred by Geth! C-sec has already concluded their investigation and it has only been 18 hours since the attack! The Goddess alone knows what they're covering up._ "

Harry stopped listening and immediately turned away, "Iyala. I'm headed to the citadel. If Saren really has gone rogue I'm going to be there to bring him in."

He strode into his room and Iyala followed him. With a flick of his wand the odds and ends that had scattered across the room during his two weeks off started to pack themselves. Iyala said, "You've still got another two weeks left on your leave. Let someone else take this one. Besides, the humans may just be blowing smoke about him again. Before you were a Spectre there was a human they were considering but he blew the op while Saren was evaluating him. They blamed Saren and they've hated him ever since."

Harry shrugged, "Even if they keep the SA in the dark, the Council is going to put a Spectre on this to make sure it's not a prelude to full on war with the geth. Regardless, it was a human colony that was attacked and I'm going to take the assignment."

His friend leaned against the door and folded her arms, "For someone who's tried so hard to integrate as an Asari, you're still very loyal to humanity."

Harry stopped what he was doing and locked eyes with her, "Is it so wrong to try and live in a society that is as long lived as I? I've already watched my whole world wither away once, do you think I could stand to build something up every century just to watch it die? No… I would go mad if I tried to live with humans. At the same time, I am a human. I will help them when I can, and this is one of those times. Another Spectre might let the Council dictate how to run their investigation, and you know how loathe the Council is to help humanity. I don't care who did it, I won't put politics above the truth."

Everything had finished packing while Harry was talking and Harry grabbed clothes from the top of his bag to change into. He didn't bother to ask Iyala to leave because experience had taught him that she wouldn't and would tease him endlessly over human prudishness. Instead he kicked the slippers off and tossed his robe on the bed and began to pull on his clothes. While he was pulling up his trousers Iyala spoke again, "Do you think that I would bow to pressure from the Council?"

Harry snorted, "No, but you would not be given the assignment."

He grabbed his shirt and put his arms through the sleeves, beginning to button it as he continued, "They'll give it to Zelost or Jerin Vrynnick. Neither of them like humans and they both owe Saren too much to investigate him too closely. I know they're looking for a human Spectre candidate but Nihlus will mentor whoever they choose and by the time they do find someone the trail will be cold."

He finished the buttons and glanced over at Iyala, who was smirking at him, "What?"

She let out a bark of laughter, "I'm not going to stop you. I just wanted to make sure you'd thought it through."

Harry made another rude gesture, "I'm not some maiden asking for your wisdom, and I'm not your trainee who has to consult with you before I do anything."

Iyala gave a careless shrug and said blithely, "Old habits die hard."

With a flick of his wand Harry summoned his battle robes and pulled them on, leaving them open for now. He pulled on his boots and grabbed his bag before turning to Iyala, "Well. I'm off. Would you pack up my experiments and ship them to the Presidium safe-house?"

She scoffed before stepping forward and grabbing his arm, "Don't apparate away without me. I'm coming as well. I thought we'd be here longer so I gave my crew leave and the _Lady of the Sea_ is docked for some upgrades."

Harry looked her over, "If you're coming, maybe you should put on some clothes."

She glanced down, a hint of purple coloring her cheeks, and let go of his arm, "Right. Give me fifteen minutes to shower and pack. Not all of us have your fancy tricks."

Harry laughed and teased, "I know we're friends Iyala but I didn't think you'd be so hot to come with me you'd forget your armor."

Iyala swiftly left the room, calling over her shoulder, "Next time we train together I'm actually going to bitch-slap you into unconsciousness."

The wizard laughed and went to the study where his experiments were to pack them up since he had the time. In truth, were he and Iyala to fight to the death, the only way that Iyala would win would be to ambush him and get in close or hit him with some truly powerful biotics. He'd come a long way from their first duel, and she'd helped him come up with tactics specifically to combat biotics. Element Zero wiped out the wizarding world, but didn't affect active magic like the enchantments that hid and protected Hogwarts. Biotics however, would degrade those enchantments over time. He'd had to replace two sets of battle-robes when duels with powerful biotic pirates had seen the enchantments broken by their powers. They also gave biotic users an innate resistance to magics that affected their bodies. Powerful curses would still hurt and kill them, but many non-lethal hexes and jinxes had no effect. To combat this, he'd had to brush up on his battle transfiguration, and while he probably wouldn't be as good as Dumbledore without another century of practice, he now had more non-lethal options to capture his biotic foes if he needed to.

Instead of the fifteen minutes Iyala had asked for it took them thirty minutes to pack up, get rid of her bedmates, and lock up the T'rahn vacation home. He apparated them halfway across the continent, putting them into his bedroom aboard the _Gallant._ When they reappeared, Iyala staggered against him, pulling them both down onto his small bed. She ended up halfway laying on him and his glare did nothing to affect her as she asked innocently, "What's that look for?"

"I know damn well that you can stand on your own after we apparate. Get off of me."

She wriggled on top of him but did nothing to get up, "Well Harry. Now that I know how sad your sex life is, I've taken it upon myself to fix it. We've got a six hour flight ahead of us, plenty of time get to work on it."

Harry rolled his eyes and pushed her off of him onto the floor, "It's not going to happen. I know you too well to sleep with you."

She grinned and hopped to her feet, "Aww. I'll hold you and whisper sweet nothings in your ear if that's what you want."

Harry grumbled as he left the tiny room and headed towards the cockpit, "If you don't stop I'm going to leave you here."

He sat down in the pilot's chair and began to warm up the engines and do his pre-flight checks. He used his Spectre status to to move himself up the queue to launch and after that he had to navigate the heavy space traffic around Thessia. It took him an hour and a half to reach the relay and go through it. The next six hours were spent with Iyala, brainstorming what and where they would investigate and researching the Geth. When they burst from the relay Harry sent a message to Tevos, letting her know that he was in system and ready to take over the investigation of the Eden Prime attack. He received a terse message to hurry to the council chambers but nothing else. Their docking at the Citadel was quick and when they did dock he cast his familiar self-transfigurations and glamours to become Aleria T'rahn and sealed up his robes. He didn't bother with the leathers because he very much doubted he was going to see combat or a hostile environment where he'd need an environmental seal. Iyala had donned her own commando leathers and was ready for combat.

They stepped off of his ship and after he'd locked it down Harry said, "Drop everything at the Presidium safe house. I'll speak to the Council and then meet you there. We'll apparate to the Spectre's office and we can get everything we need for the mission."

She nodded and without further ado they took an elevator down into the Spectre office. When they stepped out, it was nearly empty, but the few Spectres that were there were glued to a vid-screen, faces grim. The pair who'd just arrived ignored them and left the office, separating as soon as they emerged into the Presidium. Harry swiftly made his way towards the council tower He had to take another elevator but soon he was striding up the steps towards the chamber where he could hear the councilors speaking.

Tevos voice echoed through the chamber as he made it to the top of the steps, "Spectres are an ideal, a symbol, the embodiment of course, determination, and self-reliance. They are the right hand of the Council, instruments of our will.

Sparatus finished the Spectre's induction, "Spectre's bear a great burden. Both our first and last line of defence, the safety of the galaxy is theirs to uphold."

The woman whom they were inducting, a blonde in the blue dress uniform of the Alliance navy bowed her head, "You honor me, councilors."

Tevos spoke again from the lofty height of her podium, "You are the first human Spectre, Commander. This is a great accomplishment for you and your entire species."

Valern followed, "We're sending you into the Traverse after Saren. He's a fugitive from justice, so you are authorized to use any means necessary to apprehend or eliminate him."

Harry zoned out as his head spun. Saren, a traitor? Humanity had their first Spectre, and he hadn't even known they had picked a candidate? Where in the name of the Goddess was Nihlus. He caught Tevos eye as she ended the council session and she motioned with her head in the direction of her office. He nodded minutely and then watched as she filed out along with the other councilors. Looking back over he noticed that the human Ambassador along with the naval Captain had left the new Spectre along with two other humans in armor, striding briskly away from the podium. Her two companions seemed to be congratulating her and she was talking quietly with them when he approached the group. As soon as get got within 10 feet of them her head snapped around and her gaze pierced him, flinty eyes that were a swirl of green and blue took him in. As he approached she spoke first, her smoky alto voice firm,"Who are you?"

He inclined his head before answering, "Aleria T'rahn. Spectre."

The man and the woman flanking her both raised their eyebrows in incredulity, probably at his robes. Somehow, the Spectre's eyes sharpened even more, assessing everything about him before she introduced herself, "Commander Shepard, Alliance Navy. Spectre now too… Do you need something."

His lips curved up slightly as they got to the root of the matter, "As a matter of fact I do. If you would come with me, I will show you the Spectre offices. I must have a quick word with Councilor Tevos but after that there are some administrative tasks to take care of to finalize your status."

This seemed to surprise all three of them and Shepard hesitated for a moment before nodding sharply, "Of course. I should have known. Lieutenant, Gunnery Chief, report back to the Normandy and start packing. When they assign me my own command, both of you are on it."

Both of them saluted, backs straight and pride etched across their faces. They turned to leave but the woman, tan skin with dark eyes and hair, had some parting words, "Thanks for the vote of confidence Commander. I'll be glad to be there when we kick that Turians teeth in."

They watched the pair walk away for a moment before Harry turned his attention back to the Commander, "Come. The Councilor's office is this way."

They set off and made the short journey to Tevos office in silence. Upon entering the reception area Tevos' secretary zeroed in on Harry, "Spectre T'rahn. Councilor Tevos requires your presence immediately."

He nodded shortly to her before saying to Shepard, "If you would not mind waiting here, this will not take long."

She answered shortly, "Of course."

He strode into Tevos office and as soon as the door closed flicked his wand out and threw up a silencing spell. He preempted her, "I was only out of contact for six hours! What the fuck happened!"

She rebuked him sharply, "Control your tongue. The Council was backed into a corner. We are lucky the humans are so easily appeased!"

Harry grimaced, "Appeased with a Spectre? The last I'd heard they were trying to narrow down the candidates. And where in the name of the Goddess is Nihlus!"

"Nihlus is dead."

Her blunt answer shocked Harry, "What happened!"

Tevos gave him a barebones summary of the Eden Prime mission and Commander Shepards efforts on the citadel to bring the truth to light. Harry fell down into one of the plush chairs Tevos kept and the Councilor herself sat wearily in the one behind her desk. After a few moments of silence he said contemplatively, "This is worse than I thought."

His boss chuckled darkly, "The oceans are always deeper than you think. Matriarch Benezia is working with Saren."

This truly shocked Harry, "Matriarch Benezia? As in T'soni? Head of one of the Thirty Families, former Solarch and Lunarch of the Temple of Athame? Currently the owner of one of the largest and most profitable conglomeration of corporations on Thessia? One of the most powerful living biotics?"

Tevos nodded grimly, "The same."

"Fuck!"

She didn't even try to reprimand him that time. Instead she replied wearily, "Once this gets out on Thessia there will be riots. She's highly respected and owns something like 1% of the entire Asari economy."

Harry grunted, "That will be your problem. If she's chasing Saren and Benezia, Commander Shepard is swimming right into a riptide."

Tevos shot back, "What else would you have us do?"

"Let me hunt them! You know it will take an equally powerful biotic or me if it comes to a fight with Benezia."

Tevos groaned and leaned forward, rubbing her temples, "I can't. Saren and his Geth nearly nuked a human colony, and did kill thousands of Alliance colonists. We had to give them something, and making Commander Shepard a Spectre and sending her after him was the best course."

Harry practically spat, "Politics."

"Yes."

There was another moment of silence before Harry spoke again, "It seems I'll have to get myself onto her mission then."

Tevos' eyes widened and she sat straighter, "Yes. That could work."

Harry kept the train of thought going, "With Nihlus dead, she doesn't have another Spectre to mentor her anymore. We can't just send a new Spectre out into the field without _some_ oversight now can we?"

Tevos shook her head, "The humans would never accept."

The Wizard shook his head and sat forward, a grin beginning to form on his face, "No. You misunderstand. She will still be in command. I will be subordinate to her. I'll just be there to smooth things over for her, teach her the ins-and-outs of being a Spectre. Perhaps lend her my combat skills."

The devious smile that had been forming on Tevos' face disappeared suddenly, "Your identity would be an issue, and your magic. How would you explain it?"

He shrugged, "I have to come clean at some point. Besides, there are spells that protect my identity from being spread. It won't go beyond what I allow."

She pondered his idea for a few moments, "You will have to appeal directly to Commander Shepard. I cannot unilaterally assign this to you."

Harry nodded, "I'd surmised as much. I can call her in here and explain."

"Do it."

Harry stood up and went over to the door to stick his head out, "Commander Shepard?"

She was standing over near a window, gazing out into the abyss of space. On hearing her name she turned, "Yes?"

"Would you join the Councilor and I for a moment?"

The woman strode over and for the first time Harry was able to get a good, clear look at the newest Spectre. She was perhaps an inch taller than him, all whipcord muscle and svelte curves. Her white-blonde hair was put up in a severe braid that left bare a narrow aristocratic face; high cheekbones, straight nose, and a trio of light scars that ran across her right temple. He stood aside as she entered the room and then closed the door again. She glanced around, taking in the surprisingly austere office. Harry gestured for her to have a seat and she took one, back straight as a board. Harry sat in another one and said, "Do you prefer plain speech or would you like to talk around the point for a few minutes? I've found that humans hate that, but you're their first Spectre so you may surprise me."

He didn't even get a laugh as she replied, "What do you want?"

Harry sighed and then said bluntly, "You are tasked with tracking down Saren and Matriarch Benezia. To speak plainly, if you end up fighting Benezia without my or another biotics help, you will die."

That got a reaction out of her. A patch of red crept up her neck and a hint of heat entered her voice, "Don't think for a moment that just because I'm human I can't take care of one traitorous Asari!"

Harry shook his head, "It is not because you are human. There are few in this galaxy that could kill her in open combat. There are perhaps four Spectres, some priestesses of the Temple, a justicar or two, and Aria T'loak that could stand against her. She is one of the most powerful biotics in the galaxy and without another equally powerful biotic or an orbital bombardment she will win any fight you pick with her."

Her eyebrows had been slowly rising as he spoke, "You've got to be exaggerating. You make her sound invincible."

"You don't have much combat experience against biotics do you?"

She bristled and replied, "I've spent enough time fighting pirates to encounter biotics of all races. They all die the same as everyone else."

Harry chuckled lightly, "Yes, but could their barriers stop a tank round? Could their singularities rip apart a shuttle? Could they single handedly throw a biotic artillery strike powerful enough to decimate a company of soldiers?"

Shock rippled across her face as she admitted tersely, "No."

"Benezia can do all that and more."

There were a few moments of silence as the Commander digested his words. Tevos, who had sat quietly as they spoke, broke in, "We are not casting aspersions on your combat ability Commander. Your service record is exemplary and your history speaks for itself. Benezia however, transcends anything you have ever encountered."

Shepard burst out, "Then why the hell do I have this assignment, if you're so sure I'll fail?"

Harry again spat out the epitaph, "Politics."

Thoughts ran over her face for a moment before she grimaced, "I'm just a fucking soldier. My superiors point and I shoot until something is dead. It doesn't matter how powerful Benezia is, I'm still going after her and Saren."

Harry leaned forward, his own eyes locking with the Commanders, "And I would not stop you. You're a Spectre now, and that is your mission. However, I would like to help you. Let me join your team. I will be your counterweight to Benezias power, and help you complete your mission."

For the first time during the conversation Shepard sat back in her chair, all the while regarding Harry with suspicion, "I'm not going to let someone come in and take over my mission."

The wizard shook his head, "It's your mission, you're in command. I'll follow your lead Shepard."

She looked him over once again before crossing her arms and saying, "Fine. Just remember who is in command."

Harry nodded gracefully and smiled, "Thank you. You won't regret it. Now, there is something you need to know."

The wizard flicked his wand from his wrist-holster and and brought it up to tap the edge of his hood. The tough dragonhide split apart and Harry extracted a small strip of parchment that had been embedded in it."

Shepard was looking at him like he was insane but he just smiled and leaned forward to hand her the parchment. She took it hesitantly and he said, "Read it."

She glanced at it and mumbled to herself, "Spectre Aleria T'rahn is the wizard Harry Potter. Wizard? What the fuck?"

She looked back and looked at him, confusion all over his face. Harry grinned and brought his wand up, reversing the self-transfigurations, dispelling his glamours and voice-charms, and letting her see his real face.

"Jesus Christ, Holy Shit!"


	3. Chapter 3

"As always, your penchant for dramatics leaves much to be desired Harry."

Tevos' dry observation washed over the stunned Commander Shepard and the heartily amused Harry Potter. The Commander was up out of her chair, hands unconsciously seeking a weapon but not finding one in her dress uniform. She said frantically, "What the fuck are you?"

Harry, who had sat back in his chair to enjoy the show, said simply, "I am a wizard."

Shepard, who was calming down rapidly as her military training started to take over after the initial shock, replied, "That doesn't mean shit. Tell me what the hell is going on or you're out. I don't care how much you think I need you."

Harry sighed, "That's what this meeting is about. Telling you my deepest darkest secrets."

The counselor mirrored Harry's sigh, "Would you stop demonstrating Iyala's less desirable traits and get on with it. I have a crisis to manage."

Harry let out a bark of laughter and straightened up in his seat, "Very well. Have a seat Commander. All will be explained."

She replied stiffly, "I'd prefer to stand."

"As you wish. Now, where to start. Ah. Yes. Some 1300 years ago, four of the most accomplished wizards and witches of the age founded a school named Hogwarts..."

In a conversation reminiscent of the one he'd initially had six years ago with Tevos, Harry outlined the history of the wizarding world. Shepard was dumbfounded, "How did we not know? You can't just hide millions of people dying like that."

Harry shook his head with a small smile, "You would be surprised what history the Wizarding World was entangled in. You must understand, this happened only two years after the formation of the Systems Alliance. Prior to that, each countries Ministry of Magic had different policies for dealing with their mundane counterparts. Some kept their existence completely separate, some informed only the Head of State, and some were actually highly integrated into the upper echelons of their government. The Systems Alliance threw everything into confusion, because the Wizarding World did not have an equivalent and so did not know how to interact with this new government. We debated it for two years and there was actually some talk of doing away entirely with the Statute of Secrecy and attempting to co-exist under the auspices of Humanity, not wizard and muggle. We never really reached a conclusion before the accident in Singapore, and when it was all over I utilized my contacts with the mundane governments to clean up and cover up. I was… not in a good place at the time. I foolishly did not want reminders of the Wizarding World so I spent the years afterwards traveling the world removing all traces of it and obliviating anyone and everyone that had come into contact with magic. I regret that now..."

After his lengthy speech he absently conjured a glass and filled it with water, sitting back and taking a sip as he lost himself in memories. Tevos was silent. He'd let hints of what had happened slip during meetings between the two and she had an idea of the horrors he'd endured and what he'd done so she gave him a moment to lose himself in memories. Shepard was also silent, but for the simpler reason of being shocked by his conjuration. After a few moments Shepards curiosity returned, "So, why are you masquerading as an Asari Spectre?"

Harry came out of his reverie with a bark of laughter, "That was part of the deal when they let me join the Spectre's. They wanted my abilities, but they didn't want me to be human. So, we compromised. I get to be a Spectre, they don't have a human running around breaking the laws of physics in the name of the council."

"Why haven't we heard of you? One hint of your abilities and it would be all over the galaxy."

Harry's mouth twisted grimly, "I'm very good at what I do, and I don't leave witnesses. There are also spells that protect my identity. That piece of parchment I gave you is the key to one of them, which keeps separate my two identities. Speaking of, if I could have that back?"

She handed it back to him and he replaced it in the tiny slot in his hood and then sealed it back up. He spoke again, "There are no electronic records of magic. All records are physical and hidden under complex spells. The good counselor here has access to them as well as my former Spectre mentor. You should read my mission reports, they're all excellent works of fiction, if I do say so myself."

Shepard was about to ask another question when Tevos cut in, "Commander Shepard, if you are satisfied with Harry's explanation I have other business to attend to. You can ask your other questions later."

Harry stood, "Of course. Commander, I can take you to the Spectre office now, there really are things we need to do there."

She nodded slowly, "I will have more questions… but let's go."

He smiled at her and took a few moments to replace his transfigurations and glamours. He started towards the door and heard the commander mutter to herself behind him, "That's just freaky."

Harry smiled twisted into a smirk as they left the office and they walked in silence the few minutes it took to get to the Spectre office, her in deep thought and him waiting for the deluge of questions that was going to come. He let her in they passed through the lobby to a small office tucked away in the back. Harry opened the door and stepped inside, "Eran, I need you to fast-track Commander Shepards status and clearance."

The crusty old Turian sitting behind the desk looked up at him, "Little T'rahn. Still haven't gotten a good set of armor I see. Someone's going to blow through your barrier one day and I'm going to laugh."

Harry grinned cockily, "Never happen. Now, about those clearances."

He grumbled, "Send her in. I'll set her up."

Harry gestured and Shepard stepped in, walking up and standing in front of the desk. Harry introduced them, "Shepard, this is Eran Vrossik, oldest Turian Spectre still active. Eran, Commander Shepard, newest Council Spectre."

The elderly Turian flared his mandibles in irritation, "Yes yes. I saw the spectacle. I don't know what the council is thinking, giving the humans a Spectre. Then again, they let that mad vakar Saren be one. The Spirits alone know what those idiots are doing. Back in my day..."

Eran went on a grumbling rant as he tapped away at his haptic interface. Harry leaned over and whispered, "This might take a while. I'm going to get some supplies, meet me back in the lobby if you're finished before me."

She nodded, her eyes fixed dubiously on the Turian. Harry backed out of the room and made use of a blind spot in the tight surveillance to conjure a small duffel bag before navigating the Spectre's office to the suite of rooms where weapons, armor, and tech were stored for Spectre use. He grabbed a half-dozen Spectre grade omni-tools as well as two powerful biotic-suppression collars, stuffing them all in the bag. Moving to the other side of the room he grabbed a small case filled with tiny communicators. He knew that with Shepard he's be working with a team and since he didn't use a modern helmet with radio built in, they'd need a way to communicate while sealed up. These were tiny earwigs powerful enough to reach a ship in orbit from the planet below. He slid the case inside the bag and zipped it up, done for now. He slung the bag on his shoulder and stepped out of the room, headed back towards the lobby. It took a few minutes to make it back and when he did Shepard was standing there, tapping her feet and looking through something on her Omni-tool. As soon as she saw him she came over and pre-empted him, "We need to go now. Councilor Tevos forwarded me a lead on Benezia. Her daughter is an archaeologist on a dig out in the Traverse. We're going to go pick her up and interrogate her."

"Ah. Haste it is then. Come. My ship is up in the Spectre' dock and I'll need my gear if I'm going with you."

Her impatience was palpable as they stepped into the elevator that led to the dock. As always it was frustratingly slow. He quickly led her to the _Gallant_ and she gave it a critical eye as the boarded. He could tell that she wasn't impressed. He wasn't bothered. He'd long ago learned that though his little corvette was a workhouse, getting him where he needed to be, it was less than impressive. He led her into his tiny bedroom and went over to a small cabinet embedded in the wall. He opened it to show two dozen trunks, all shrunk down until they were the size of his fist. Since he was hesitant to mess with space expanding charms aboard something that was going to go through a mass relay, he'd had to get creative when it came to storing his equipment. Each trunk was meticulously organized and labeled. He ran his fingers over a few, trying to decide which would be worth taking. Glancing back at Shepard who was watching him intently he murmured, "Best pack it all. This could take a while."

He plucked the top left trunk from the cabinet and set it on the bed. He snapped his wand into his hand and with a flick it grew back to its normal size, the top of the trunk popped open and another small flick sent all of the trunks orderly flying into the larger one. He smirked slightly at the incredulous look painted across Shepards face. He flicked his wand again and the small storage locker where he kept his combat leathers and spare robes opened and all of his spares flew out and folded themselves neatly at the top of his trunk. One set of leathers spread itself on the bed and with a quick switching spell they were on his body and his khakis and button-up were lying rumpled in their place. He summoned the rest of his accoutrements and threw them on. Belt first, then the pouch and mask at his left and right hips. Last was his baldric and sword, which he slung over his shoulder and tightened across his chest.

Harry closed the trunk lid and shrunk that one down to the size of his fist and tossed it into the duffel bag with his requisitioned tech. He turned to Shepard, who was still watching incredulously, and said, "Alright. Ready to go."

She took in his appearance for a moment and said, "You look ridiculous. Do you actually fight in that?"

He laughed, "This is the uniform of an Auror! A legacy of the proud men and women who fought for, and served Britain for centuries. I'd be ashamed not to wear it!"

The woman raised a single unimpressed eyebrow. Harry laughed again and continued, "And it's a psychological ploy. It makes dumb enemies underestimate me, because how could someone who looks so ridiculous be dangerous. And it makes smart enemies wary, because only a powerful biotic would go into a fight wearing flimsy robes."

Shepard pointed out, her haste forgotten for curiosity, "You aren't a powerful biotic though, so why do you go into a fight unarmored."

"There are powerful enchantments on the robes. They create a field not unlike your own shields, but it vaporizes incoming bullets."

She crossed her arms and frowned, "That still leaves you vulnerable in close quarters."

Harry couldn't help but smirk as he reached of an patted the hilt of his sword, "That's what this beauty is for. Unbreakable, and imbued with the most deadly poison known to man. One nick will kill a Krogan, regardless of how powerful its regeneration is. Besides, I have a host of spells that allow me to keep my opponents at a distance. The sword is a last resort."

Shepard nodded but a flicker of frustration flashing across her face, "I'm trying to figure out what role you'll play on my team. I don't know anything about your abilities, so it's impossible."

Harry shrugged, "I'm here to follow your orders. Just ask, and I'll tell you if I can do something."

Shepard nodded again and Harry continued, "Right. One more stop and then we'll be ready."

He held out his arm, "If you would take my arm, I'll have us there in a moment."

Her eyebrows shot up but she gently laid a hand on his arm. Harry rolled his eyes, "Grip it tightly please."

Her grip tightened and a moment later Harry apparated them to his and Iyala's presidium safe house. With a sharp _crack_ Harry and Shepard reappeared in the living room. The woman immediately let go of Harry's arm and grabbed a nearby table to steady herself, her face decidedly pale. Harry clapped her on the back, "You must have a strong stomach Shepard. Everyone else puked the first time, even Iyala."

At the mention of her name the Asari stepped out of their workroom and said, "That's because it isn't natural."

Harry grinned, "Shepard here did fine with it. That proves it, you have a weak stomach."

Shepard straightened up and said dryly, "Don't use me to score points. Iyala, I presume?"

The human woman stepped up and shook the elder Spectre's hand. Iyala replied, "I like you already. Shepard, right? Nice to have you aboard. I watched your induction ceremony, they really threw you to the deeps with this one."

Harry snorted, "You've got that right. Which is why I volunteered to aid her mission."

Iyala shrugged, "Like I didn't know that was going to happen as soon as they made Shepard a Spectre and sicced her on Saren."

Harry was incensed, "You did not."

The Asari smirked at him, "Why else would I have packed everything you have here and have it ready to go."

Harry was about to respond hotly again but Shepard cut him off, " Ha- Ale… What the hell do I even call you?"

He replied, "When I look like an Asari call me Aleria. Otherwise you can call me Harry. If you tried to call me Harry while I looked like this in the presence of someone who doesn't know, you wouldn't be able to. There is a spell that prevents you from spilling my secret."

She nodded again, saying slowly, "Right… We're in a hurry though, so let's wrap this up."

Harry nodded and turned back to Iyala, "Where is my stuff then."

"In the study. I shoved it all in your trunk."

Harry swiftly strode into the study where another trunk sat. He cracked the lid and sighed at the mess Iyala had left in it. Red robes were shoved to one side, a stack of loosely bound parchment was on the other, and various metal and wooden objects were stacked on top of it all. Grumbling, he flicked his wand out again and spent a few moments organizing the trunk. When he was through, he shrunk it and stowed it in his duffel bag. Now with everything he needed he went back into the living room. Iyala was standing near Shepard talking lowly. A jolt of understanding went through Harry and he called out, "If you wanted a chance to talk to Shepard alone you could have just asked instead of making a mess of my things."

Iyala scoffed, completely blowing him off, "You're so paranoid Harry. Besides, you know how much I hate packing. It's boring."

Harry rolled his eyes, "Constant Vigilance and all that. I don't care what you had to say, but since you have time to pass on gossip you can do me a favor. I need dossiers on Saren and Matriarch Benezia. Not the official crap either, dig into the Spectre databases and get me something I can use to track them."

She was suddenly serious as she nodded, "It might take me a few days to dig something up."

Harry replied, "That's fine. We already have a lead. We've located Benezia's daughter. We're going to retrieve her and we should be back here in a few days to interrogate her. Have it for me by then."

Iyala nodded and Harry turned to Shepard, "I'm ready."

She replied to him, "Let's go. We need to return to my CO's ship to grab my gear. The Alliance should have found a ship for me by now and we can go."

"Right. Where is it docked."

"C-Sec dock 48. We'll have to go through C-Sec to get there."

Harry nodded, "Alright. Your turn to lead then."

They left the apartment and strode across the Presidium towards C-sec. A few minutes into the walk Shepard spoke suddenly, "Where are the gawkers? You're an Asari walking around with a sword strapped to your back in ridiculous robes. There should be gawkers lining the streets."

The wizard chuckled, "I figured that out after the first few times walking through the Presidium. I added a notice-me-not enchantment to all my robes. If they aren't actively looking for me or know I'm there, their eyes slide right past me. It doesn't work in a fight unfortunately, the enchantment is finicky that way. I have other methods of staying out of sight."

"Such as?"

Harry gave his duffel bag a pat, "I have a dossier on my abilities I made up for Iyala when I was her Spectre trainee. I'll probably need to update it a bit but when I'm done I'll let you read it."

She nodded her appreciation as they turned into C-sec headquarters. Halfway through the Citadel day cycle it was packed with officer and civilians all trying to get something done through the bureaucracy of C-sec. The pair squeezed through the crowds and took the central elevator up. It took five minutes and a switch to a different elevator for them to finally make it to her ship where two men stood outside the skybridge that linked the dock to a sleek frigate bearing the name _Normandy_. A tall, broad black man in military dress blues stood next to a slightly shorter man with a sour face wearing an expensive white suit. Harry recognized the outspoken human ambassador to the Council Donnel Udina, but not the military man. Shepard marched right up to them and saluted, "Captain Anderson, Ambassador."

The now named Anderson returned her salute but Udina got right into it, "I've got big news for you Shepard. Captain Anderson is stepping down as Commander of the Normandy. The ship is yours now."

Harry couldn't see her face but he did see her shoulders stiffen in surprise as Anderson took over, "She's quick and quiet and you know the crew. Perfect ship for a Spectre."

"Sir, th…"

"Take good care of her Commander."

She replied staunchly, "I will sir."

Udina seemed silkily satisfied by the handover of power that he had just facilitated and turned to Harry, snidely asking, "And who is this? Another alien you've conscripted to serve on a highly classified Alliance warship?"

The Commander answered him blandly, "This is Council Spectre Aleria T'rahn. She has been assigned to my mission."

Harry cursed her in his mind as Anderson's gaze sharpened on him and Udina purpled, a color that wouldn't be out of place on Vernon's face. He sputtered out, "This is outrageous! The council has no right! This is Shepards mission!"

Harry stepped forward and smoothly said, "It still _is_ Commander Shepards mission. There was concern within the Spectre's office that Shepard had not adequately been prepared to be a Spectre. That's why I am here."

It was Anderson this time that objected, "Commander Shepard is one of the finest soldiers I've had the privilege to serve with. There's no question…"

Harry interrupted him, "I held Nihlus Kryik in high regard and if he chose her as a Spectre candidate then I have no question of her abilities. However, even if the Council is going to throw the Commander to the deeps for the sake of politics, the Spectre's won't. The Council wills it, so she is one of us. Contrary to popular belief, there are rules and regulations for Spectre's. I'm here to teach her, as Nihlus would have had he lived. She's still in command, I'm just here to… smooth the way for her."

This seemed to mollify Captain Anderson, in fact, Harry could sense a faint approval from the naval Captain. Not so much Udina. The oily man continued snidely, "The Council already made her a full Spectre. Humanities Spectre does not need the other races looking over her shoulder."

Harrys lips thinned and he replied lowly, emulating the cold tone of the woman whose voice he used, "Councilor Udina. The Council has given Humanity a Spectre. Don't be ungrateful. You've done your job, now let the Spectre's do ours. I would suggest not angering us more than you already have, usurping our right to assess and choose our own members. A small fish like you is easily ignored by larger predators but if you keep nibbling around the edges of something greater than yourself…"

Harry left the threat unsaid but he felt that he'd gotten the message across to the slimy Ambassador. The man's rage didn't seem to abate but his jaw clenched and he didn't say a word after that. There were a few awkward moments before Shepard spoke to Anderson, "Sir, we need to move quickly. Councilor Tevos forwarded us a lead on Benezia's daughter. She's out in the Traverse and our first objective is to find and interrogate her."

He nodded, "The Normandy is yours Commander. I know you'll do the Alliance proud."

She saluted one more time and then turned sharply, beckoning for Harry to follow her down the skybridge into the elegant frigate. As they cycled through the airlock he commented acerbically, "Thanks for throwing me to the sharks Shepard. That man is the worst kind of politician. He might give old Lucius a run for his money in sheer sliminess."

There wasn't a hint of smugness in her tone or bearing but her face was much too carefully controlled for Harry to think she was anything but, "I told Councilor Udina the truth. You have been assigned to this mission."

The wizard snorted, "I _asked_ you if I could join your mission, and you said yes. Being assigned to this mission is a polite fiction for the Spectre's office."

She turned slightly towards him, "And what was that all about, usurping the rights of the Spectre's to assess and choose their own members."

Harry shrugged, "He was an ass. And there probably are _some_ Spectre's angry that you got the bump so quickly. Besides, I needed something to make the threat stick."

The VI started to declare the all clear when Shepard suddenly hissed, "Change back. Change back to normal."

Harry immediately flicked his wand out and undid the transfigurations and glamours. He was sliding his wand back into its holster as the doors hissed open and only then did he question, "Why the change?"

Shepard snorted, "Really? You have to ask? I'm going to explain that you're a wizard first, Asari Spectre second. No way am I letting you do the whole dramatic reveal with my team."

Harry smirked as they stepped onto her ship and replied, "I certainly had fun with it."

They walked through the CIC and skirted the navigators platform, both ignoring the looks Harry got for his bizarre robes, and entered a circular conference room with eight surprisingly comfortable looking chairs arranged in two semi-circles facing each other . Shepard pointed to a chair and said, "Sit. I need to round up my crew and get this over with as soon as possible."

Harry set his bag down, unbuckled his baldric, and slung it over the back of his chosen chair before falling into it, "Get what over with?"

He could tell that his cheekiness was getting on her nerves, "Explain to the crew how we have a fucking wizard pretending to be a fucking Asari Spectre who's coming on the mission because one of our targets is apparently more powerful than any other biotic I've ever fucking encountered. You know, you basically blackmailed me into bringing you on."

Harry sat back and threw an arm over the back of the chair, "Did that feel good to get out? I'll explain what needs to be explained and quell any doubts that may arise. As to the blackmail, I gave you the information I thought you needed to make an informed decision."

She rolled her eyes and turned towards the door, saying over her shoulder as she left, "Informed decision my ass. There's one on every crew. Lucky for me, it's the one I can't order to shut up."

Shepard left and the double doors slid shut behind her. Harry smirked at her description of him. He'd for years been the serious one in any partnership he'd had, whether it was as an auror or in the businesses he's started later in life. He didn't count Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes, nobody had been serious in that place. He'd even felt like the reasonable one in his partnership with Iyala, even though he knew she was only acting like a stubborn ditz to aggravate him. It might have been a bit juvenile but he enjoyed acting the fool on occasion, even if on this one it was to mask his trepidation about the mission they'd undertaken.

Saren he could handle with little trouble. As long as he never let the arrogant Turian see him coming and set a trap, magic would level the playing field and then some against the admittedly deadly former Spectre. It was Benezia he worried about. She was far more dangerous than most biotics, even Iyala. His Spectre partner was a deadly combatant with centuries of experience and unrivaled understanding of combat, augmented by deadly biotic abilities. She was the pinnacle of what being an Asari Huntress meant. Harry was confident that in a straight fight he would win three out of five times. He'd even give himself even odds of surviving an ambush that didn't use explosions big enough to shatter a concrete bunker. Benezia was a different matter altogether.

One did not live to be an Asari matriarch without a substantial amount of power, both personal and political. Even Harry, who only kept abreast of Asari politics and current events enough to not blow his cover, was aware of Benezia and how powerful she was. She'd spent two centuries as a Commando and then entered service at the Temple of Athame, honing her biotic skills and learning the higher mysteries of the art. After near five centuries of service she'd retired from the temple to take control of her family and its businesses, as well as have a child. She was the Matriarch of one of the thirty founding houses of Thessia. There were dozens of theories about why, but Asari that could trace their lineage back to any house of the Thirty were generally taller, stronger, and more biotically powerful than other Asari. The most popular theory was that these enhancements had been granted to them by the Goddess Athame so that the Thirty could bring together and unify the Asari and begin their expansion towards the stars. Benezia was considered a particularly powerful biotic by even other members of the Thirty.

The closest Harry had come to death as a Spectre had been at the hands of a biotic Blood Pack Krogan not two weeks ago. By all reports, Benezia could have squished the Krogan into jelly inside of his armor. Harry had been furiously trying to come up with a strategy to combat Benezia in the scant hour he'd had to wrap his mind around the fact that he would have to face her in combat, because he was absolutely sure she and Saren wouldn't make things easy by letting the Normandy chuck a few Mass Effect slugs into at them. Most of the ideas he'd come up with involved liberal use of fire or spells that he would rather not have to resort to. He would probably have to consult Iyala about strategies to combat Matriarchs of that level of biotic power. As he pushed his sleeve back to tap a message into his omni-tool the doors opened and Shepard came back in, followed by what Harry assumed was her ground team.

A pair of humans came right behind her. Both were Alliance marines from the look of their dress. One was a lean man, tall, with a strong jawline and impeccably groomed hair wearing a spotless uniform. The other was a caramel skinned woman, taller than Shepard but built along the same lines, muscular and athletic. They moved together and took a pair of seats across from Harry. The next to enter were a Turian and a Quarian, and Harry had to quirk an eyebrow at that. Apparently the good Counselor had been telling the truth when he'd said that Shepard recruited aliens. The Turian walked with the same smooth stride every other Turian Harry had seen did, and apparently wore his armor all the time as well. He had blocky blue markings across his cheeks, nose and mandibles, and wore a C-sec targeting visor over one eye that angled back to wrap around his head. Obviously he was a skilled combatant if he had one of those. C-sec only issued them to officers likely to see action, namely its Smuggling and Interdiction force as well as the Rapid Reaction teams. His companion, a female Quarian, displayed none of those signs. In fact, she seemed nervous and her body language screamed desperately trying to play it cool. They took the other two seats across from Harry, and the wizard did not miss the mildly distasteful glance the human woman gave the Turian when he sat next to her.

Stumping along behind them was one of the largest Krogan Harry had ever seen, and he'd been up close and personal with a quite a few. He too wore his armor, blood red just like the crest that adorned the Krogans head. He disdained the seats , walking to the far side of the room and leaning on the railing with his arms crossed. Rounding out the group was an older man in a crisp Alliance uniform who stalked into the room and took the last seat in Harry's row. Shepard stood at the head of the room and hit a button on the console, speaking into it, "Joker. Set course to the Artemus Tau Cluster, Knossos system."

The apparent joker answered back, "Right away Commander. Entering coordinates… ETA is 13 hours, plus or minus the time it takes those C-sec assholes to let us out of the dock."

"Just don't ruffle too many feathers Joker. We might have to come back here."

Shepard hit a button and cut off the intercom with a squelch. Turning around, she surveyed the group arrayed in front of her, side-eyeing the Krogan over her shoulder. She dove right in, "If it isn't obvious, I'm now in command of the Normandy. Pressly, that makes you the XO."

The older officer looked taken aback but gamely nodded, "It will be my pleasure Commander."

She nodded back, "Good. Most of my experience is in ground-ops so I'll be relying on you to advise me spaceside."

She looked around, "The rest of you are the ground team that I've assembled, and I've already decided on the first leg of our mission. But first, introductions."

She hooked a thumb over her shoulder and introduced Urdnot Wrex, a Krogan mercenary who'd come aboard just to get a crack at Saren and find a good fight. She then went down the line.

Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams had been recently transferred to the Normandy, the only survivor in her unit of Saren's and the Geth's assault on Eden Prime.

Lieutenant Kaiden Alenko, an L2 Biotic Sentinel, and the man in command of the half-dozen marines who were posted aboard the Normandy as security.

Garrus Vakarian, C-Sec detective. _Former…_ C-sec detective, who'd joined up to get away from all the red tape and out into the galaxy to track down a black and white criminal.

Tali'Zorah nar Rayya, Quarian Migrant. She'd been the one to provide the critical intelligence that led to Saren's disbarment from the Spectre's, and had joined the crew as their tech and Geth expert.

Shepard came around the circle to him and he stood up before she could introduce him. He got a few raised eyebrows, (Or in the case of Garrus, twitching mandibles,) but took over from the commander smoothly, "Shepard, I think it will go more smoothly if I introduce myself."

She ceded the floor to him, "By all means."

"My name is Harry Potter. I am here to provide the firepower necessary to take down a Matriarch as powerful as Benezia."

He knew he was inviting questions with that opening and wasn't disappointed when Chief Williams piped up, "A sword and funny robes are the firepower we need to take down an Asari Matriarch?"

The Krogan rumbled from off to the side, "An Asari Matriarch is a dangerous opponent. Their command of the Soulgrip is great and they have many years of experience to back it up. Heh. Should be fun. This human may look small and weak but he has the bearing of a warrior."

Harry nodded at the Krogan, "Thank you Mr. Urdnot. Now. To provide context to my previous statement. I am a wizard."

To punctuate his statement he flicked his wand out and jabbed it at his seat, transfiguring it into a comfortable armchair, and sat back down. There was a beat of silence before Shepard groaned and loudly slapped her forehead and the rest of the room burst into noise. It continued for a few moments before Shepard shouted the room down, "Quiet!"

The room quieted and she turned her glare to Harry, "For the love of god, just explain it. I still barely believe it and you teleported me halfway across the citadel."

Harry smirked, "Suffice to say since ancient times there has been a subset of humans born with magical ability. It is not well known because during the 17th century, due to the witch burnings and other factors, we went into hiding and formed a society outside of the existing one. Thirty two years ago the wizarding world was wiped out by an Element Zero induced plague. I covered it up and erased the evidence. I am the last of my kind, and I'm here to help Shepard on her mission. Save your questions until after the briefing."

Shepard waited a moment in case she had to quell any questions and then motioned him to continue, "And the other thing. Tell them how you got here."

He unerringly drew his secret parchment out of the edge of his hood and plucked it from the end of his wand. He leaned down to hand it to Pressly, "Read it and pass it around. I'll explain once everyone's read it."

The stares he got as the paper was passed around only increased in incredulity and when he got it back they culminated in looks of shock as he jumped up and passed his wand over himself a few times to put on his Spectre disguise. When he spoke next with his disguised voice their expressions truly brought joy to the part of his heart that enjoyed a good practical joke, "I am also Spectre Aleria T'rahn. I work for the Council disguised as an Asari Spectre and use my unique abilities in the service of the galactic good."

This time there was stunned silence as he continued, "Since Nihlus was killed in action, Commander Shepard was left without a Spectre mentor. She should have been assigned another to monitor and judge her fitness to be a Spectre. However, politics interfered and she was elevated to full Spectre before she could learn the in's and out's of the position. I'm here to make sure the oceans aren't too deep for her to swim."

Just as he'd expected, the room exploded. Everyone tried to get a word in and so Harry sat back down and answered none of them, content to let the commanding officer settle the room. She did so magnificently after half a minute of chaos.

"Enough!"

The room quieted and all heads turned towards Shepard, who was massaging the bridge of her nose. She growled, "He's a wizard. He's a Spectre. He's on this mission and part of my team. If _anyone_ has a problem, voice it to me privately after this. Now. Assignments. Barring Pressley, you're all here as part of my ground team. However, the _Normandy_ isn't so big that everyone won't have to pull their weight while we're on her."

Harry tuned out while she handed out assignments to everyone until she pointed at him, "You. I don't even know what you'd be good for on this ship."

He shrugged, "I'm a fair pilot. I wouldn't mind taking a shift in the cockpit."

At this her lips twitched into something resembling a smirk, "I don't think Joker would appreciate someone else horning in on his territory."

Harry's lips matched hers, "He's the jealous type? Understood. I'd already planned on putting out feelers with my contacts about Saren and Benezia's whereabouts. I'm also going to start digging into their financials and try to track them that way. I'm sure that will take up the majority of my time."

Shepard nodded, "Right. Between your Spectre resources and Wrex's in with the Shadow Broker we should be able to get all the intel we need."

A jolt of surprise ripped through Harry, "Wrex has an in with the Shadow Broker?"

Shepard frowned, "He's been working as a mercenary for the Broker for a while. Weren't you listening? I told Wrex his only job on this ship was to kill what I told him to kill and get me intel from the Shadow Broker."

Harry frowned, "I would advise not going to the Shadow Broker. What you get from it is generally not worth the favors it asks in return."

Wrex grinned toothily, "You know the Broker well wizard. I'll get what you want if you ask Shepard, but you get to pay the cost too."

Her frown deepened, "We haven't even scratched the surface of the Spectre resources yet. We'll let... T'rahn here dig into her… his… resources before we consider the Shadow Broker."

Harry dispelled his alternate identity and grinned, "I'll limit my time as Aleria while on the ship. Off the ship I will almost always be Aleria T'rahn."

Shepard sighed, "Yeah. Alright people. Thirteen hours before we get to our destination. You're all dismissed. Ground team, be ready for combat operations when we hit the Knossos System. Potter. Let's find you a bunk."

The room emptied and Harry grabbed his gear, followed his new commanding officer out of the room and down a nearby set of stairs to a lower deck. She led him past the small kitchen area and down into a long hallway filled with sleeper pods. She tapped one in the middle saying, "Felawa and Crosby are in this one but their schedules shouldn't overlap with yours much. Hotbunking is never fun but this is the only space we have to put you."

Harry took one look at the pod and immediately declined, "I think not. I'll conjure a hammock and sling it up in the cargo bay if I have to, but I won't be sleeping in one of these."

Shepard rolled her eyes, "It's not that bad. They're actually pretty cosy once you get used to them. Besides, there isn't really a place for a hammock in the cargo bay."

Harry crossed his arms, "I'm loathe to wave my Spectre status around but there is no way I'm sleeping in one of these."

The other Spectre hooked her thumb towards a slightly different pod at the end of the row, "The Alliance had that one specially put in for Nihlus when we thought he was going to be here for a while. He certainly wasn't above sleeping in one."

The wizard shrugged, "I'm not Nihlus."

Shepard sighed, "Well… we could set you up in the Med-Bay maybe…"

Harry held out a hand, "Oh no. I hate hospitals. I don't go near them if I can help it."

The woman sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose, "You are a huge pain in the ass Potter."

He grinned, "A lot of people have told me that."

Shepard rolled her eyes, "Christ. _Fine._ Come on."

She led him back out of the row of sleeper pods and around a corner to a cabin with a small plaque on it. Before he could get a good look at it the door slid open and Shepard stomped inside. The room was about twice the size of his little bedroom on the _Gallant._ Next to the door was a small table with three chairs while the other side a surprisingly large bed. In between was a small shower and toilet cubicle and across from that a desk with pictures and datapads sprawled across it. Harry realized it was the Captain's Quarters.

She gestured towards one of the chairs, "Drop your stuff. You can hotbunk here with me."

Harry smiled genially, "Commander I wouldn't want to put you out."

"It's called hotbunking for a reason. As long as you can sleep while I wor…"

Harry flicked his wand out when she started talking and after a moment's thought started to transfigure. The chairs and table melded together and then morphed into a rich oak four poster bed with red curtains. When he was finished he returned his wand to its holster and sighed, "Now isn't that nostalgic. You can take the wizard out of Gryffindor but you can't take the Gryffindor out of the wizard."

Shepard stared at the bed for a few moments before shooting Harry a sidelong glance and saying, "I don't care if you have to update it, I want the dossier on your abilities."

"Sure, sure."

Harry set the duffel bag down on the bed and began to unpack. He took his shrunken trunk and set it next to the bed before enlarging it. He flicked his wand and the lid popped open and another trunk flew out, alighting on the bed. He enlarged _that_ one, popped the lid of open, and began to flick through the multitude of file folders that it contained. He found the one he was looking for and plucked it out before closing and re-shrinking the trunk. He passed it over to Shepard who cocked an eyebrow, "Paper files?"

Harry shrugged, "All of my documents pertaining to magic are kept on paper. Can't be hacked. Can't be tracked. Anyone trying to get into my trunk without my permission is in for a nasty surprise."

At this Shepard looked curious, "Booby trapped?"

"Lethally, but I can key you into it easy enough so you don't need to worry about that."

She nodded and then went to her desk, plopping the file down and flipping it open. He knew he'd lost her attention so he asked quickly, "Where is your armory? I need to work on some of the gear I picked up."

She hardly glanced up before replying, "Take the elevator down to the cargo bay. Can't miss it."

Harry nodded and then summoned another shrunken trunk, throwing it in the duffel bag. He took the duffel and left the stateroom and made his way towards the elevator. He was the only one waiting on the elevator and after what felt like an eternity, patience still not quite his strong suit, was able to get down to the cargo deck.

The cargo bay was a hive of activity. As he exited the elevator he saw a trio of techs going through boxes, pulling out electronics and what looked to be spare parts for the ship. A full quarter of the bay was taken up by the vehicle that Garrus Vakarian was currently inspecting. Wrex was lurking in a corner, inspecting a trio of terrifyingly large guns. His eyes caught on what he was looking for and he headed towards a pair of work benches, one of which was occupied by Ashley Williams as she was stripping and cleaning what looked to be a dozen assault rifles. She glanced up as he approached and he gave her a smile, "Mind if I join you?"

"Need to sharpen your sword?"

He slipped around to the same side as her and set his duffel down on top of the bench, "If only my task were so easy."

Unzipping the bag, he took out the shrunken trunk and set it down next to him. With a tap of his wand it was normal sized again and he started to rummage around in it, pulling out four fist sized blocks of iron that he set two feet apart from each other in a square. He bent down to pull out another four identical blocks. For these he flicked out his wand and levitated them exactly two feet above the others that he'd already set out. With another flick of his wand iron liquified and thin strands of it oozed out of each block, forming thin connections before solidifying again. One final tap of his wand activated the runes that he'd painstakingly etched into the iron and they glowed red all over the iron cube.

He was about to start rummaging around in the duffel bag for his tech when he heard the woman beside him speak, "What the fuck is that?"

He glanced over to see Ashley gaping at him, "This? It's a portable anti-magic cage."

"That… doesn't really mean much to me."

Harry smiled genially at her before explaining, "It's an anti-magic cage, basically a clean zone for magic. You see, magic and electronics really don't mix. Using too much magic around electronics makes them start to behave oddly before stopping working altogether."

A panicked gleam sparked in her eyes, "You do know that we're on the most advanced warship in council space with lots and lots of little finicky experimental electronics on board right?"

Harry waved away her concern, "It would take me a year of daily casting before the ambient magic built up enough to interfere with anything. As long as I don't try and transfigure the reactor into anything we'll be fine."

She mouthed the word transfigure confusedly while he continued, "However, high level spells of the type I would use in a duel will very quickly build up the ambient magic in my vicinity enough to start interfering with any electronics on me. Things like my Omni-Tool or an earwig, and if I try and directly cast spells on them they'll short out pretty quickly."

She pointed out, "You obviously use those though…"

Harry smiled at her as he grabbed the case of earwigs and took one out, putting one in the center of his contraption, "That I do. Thus, I need to do a little bit of tinkering before they're field ready."

He hit the earwig with an engorgement charm and it grew to ten times its size. He summoned a bundle out of his trunk and rolled it out, revealing the myriad of engraving tools within. He then summoned a roll of parchment and flattened it out, taking a moment to refamiliarize himself with the runes he needed. Ashley, who had stopped cleaning and was watching him intently, glanced at it and said, "What's all this?"

Harry set about painstakingly carving as he answered, "The answer to my problems. The runes on my cage are actually a derivation of the runes I'm carving now. The anti-magic cage allows me to make the earwig a large enough size to work with. Then I carve these runes into the earwig which will stop the ambient magic that permeates the air when I cast from destroying the delicate electronics."

Ashley frowned as she watched him work, "That seems like a lot of effort when you could wear a standard helmet."

Harry shook his head, "I prefer my robes. They give me just as much protection as your armor does."

She quirked a dark eyebrow at him, "How the hell do those robes stand up to a mass effect round?"

He glanced over and winked at her, "Magic."

The woman scoffed and went back to cleaning the guns in front of her. Harry spent the next six hours carefully carving runes into two dozen earwigs as well as two of the extra omni-tools he'd pocketed. It never hurt to be prepared after all. From experience, he knew that he'd break at least half of his earwigs before they were finished with this mission. Once he'd re-packed all of his equipment and shrunk the chest, he made his way back up to the crew deck but was waylaid as soon as he stepped off the elevator. A woman with greying hair and steely countenance, who at first glance reminded him unnervingly of Madam Pomfrey, stopped him saying in a familiar accent, "Mr. Potter, I was just coming to find you. I attempted to request your medical file from the Spectre office but was rather rudely denied. When I went to the Commander she directed me to you. Now if you'll just come with me, I'll be needing some pertinents if I'm to serve as your doctor."

He couldn't get a word in edgewise as she grabbed his elbow and steered him towards the infirmary. It was only a few feet from the elevator to the infirmary so he didn't have a chance to pull away before he was thrust into a chair next to her computer and she'd sat down, "Now, I'm Dr. Helen Chakwas, medical officer aboard the Normandy. If you would please give me access to your medical file so that I can study it and plan any treatments that may be necessary…"

He glanced at her dubiously before pulling up his Omni-tool and flicking through it, transferring his Spectre medical file to the Normandy's medical database, "Yours and the Commanders eyes only, anyone else that accesses that will have their memory wiped."

Dr. Chakwas blinked before saying dryly, "Magic indeed. The Commander was also trying to tell me something else, an alternate identity? There were points where she physically could not talk, even though there was nothing wrong with her. Your doing I presume. She gave up and told me to just ask you."

Harry grimaced before unsealing the paper that was the key behind his Fidelius, and explaining his Spectre identity. She questioned him heavily about his glamours and self-transfigurations and how they would affect any emergency treatment she might need to perform. She made him perform them and then inspected him while he was Aleria. It was an altogether surreal experience to be getting such a thorough check-up from a doctor. It had been a few decades, after all.

When she was satisfied, she returned to his file and skimmed it, noting, "This only covers the last six years. I'll need any records before that as well."

Harry chuckled nervously, "They. Ah. Suffice to say, you won't find anything official for a few decades prior to my Spectre induction, and anything before that is going to be from a magical Healer. I'm not sure how much good they'll do you."

She pursed her lips, "As a medical professional, I'm sure the jargon isn't that different. Patient broke this bone. X treatment has been applied. The problem was rectified. These were the side effects. I'm sure I can muddle on through. Frankly I think it will be a fascinating read. Expect questions."

Harry stood up and grumbled quietly, "All you healers are the same."

Chakwas cocked her head to the side, "What was that young man?"

The wizard groaned, "I'll get you the files. They're hard copies, in my trunk. And I'm at least one hundred and fifty years older than you!"

He turned and stomped towards the infirmary doors and as he was passing through them he heard her parting comment, "My, you certainly don't look it!"

It took him fifteen seconds to make his way from the infirmary to the Commander's stateroom. The door hissed open and he stepped inside, seeing Shepard still sitting at the desk she'd occupied when he left, this time working on the built in computer. She glanced at him and he complained, "Your Doctor is already harassing me. That's one of the nice things about working alone. No doctors. Anything you screw up is on your own head."

She half turned towards him in her seat and said, "You sound like you could use one. Spectre T'rahn said that you'd had your leg crushed by a biotic Krogan not two weeks ago."

Harry waved her off, "That's old news. Does it look like I had my leg crushed two weeks ago."

Shepard answered him dubiously, "No, it doesn't. Although..."

Harry started to rummage around in his trunk as he answered her unspoken question, "I fixed it myself. No doctor. No healer. Just good old fashioned Auror ingenuity and a healthy application of healing magic."

He'd pulled out the trunk that all of his files were in and was sifting through it when she asked, "How did a Krogan get close enough to you to pulp your leg. Didn't you say that you normally kept opponents at a distance, and failing that you had your sword to fall back on?"

Harry grabbed the thick folder of parchment that he was looking for and straightened up, grimacing, "Like most people, I'm susceptible to enemy Biotics. If one manages to sneak up on me. Well…"

Shepard snorted, "Sounds like you needed someone there to watch your back if a Krogan could sneak up on you."

Harry grinned ruefully, "Probably. But I'm used to working alone, and all's well that ends well."

Shepard pointed out, "From what I've been able to gather most Spectres work alone. Even if they do need a team they just hire the closest mercenary group. That seems like a crazy amount of risk when you could partner with another Spectre or train a team of commandos as backup."

Harry shrugged, "There are only so many Spectres, and too many assignments already. Spectres are the best of the best and we're a prideful lot at that. Most of the job is investigative, or espionage, and for that a team just gets in the way. Besides, you didn't have a team on Torfan. When you won your moniker."

The Commander stiffened and replied coldly, "That's classified."

The wizard shrugged again, "Not to a Spectre. That was the operation that drove me to the Spectres, and I was curious. It was quite the feat of arms."

Her voice thawed a bit with curiosity, "The operation that drove you to the Spectres?"

Harry nodded, "I'd spent the years after Mindoir fighting slavers and pirates in the Traverse. After Torfan there weren't many left and those that were operated out of the Terminus systems. That was a problem even I hesitated to tackle so I looked for alternatives."

Shepard slowly relaxed back into her chair, "Right… Piece of advice Potter, don't talk about Torfan to anybody who was there. That Op was a clusterfuck of monumental proportions and it got a lot of good marines killed."

Harry put away his trunk again and nodded his head, "Of course Shepard. I believe I should return to your doctor with these records before she hunts me down again."

Shepards mouth quirked upwards slightly, "Better you than me."

Harry rolled his eyes and left, making his way back across the ship to the medbay. The doctor glanced up at him as he entered and eagerly took the files that he gave to her. He tried to escape but a pointed look and a sharp word had him sinking down into the seat next to her desk as she perused his file. She had questions.

"How on earth did all of the bones in your arm vanish?"

"Of all the teachers I had in school, the one that did that was actually not the worst."

"You had your shoulder torn open by a _Dragon?_ "

"Yes, a Hungarian Horntail to be exact. I was flying around her head trying to steal an egg from her nest. Not a real egg, mind, but I'm sure she didn't care at the time. Nesting mothers could be particularly nasty."

"This says you were in the hospital for a week because your feet were hexed backwards… and that you actually broke out which caused you to stay for another week due to the complications of walking around with your feet backwards."

"I couldn't miss my best friends wedding! I was the best man! Bloody healers found me during the reception, nearly had to duel them to get them to let me stay until the end."

He spent a few hours with Dr. Chakwas cracking jokes over his medical file and telling stories about the magical world. The good Doctor had a dry wit and a healthy curiosity about magic, though it did skew towards the healing aspects of magic and Harry's rough auror field healing did not cut it with her, so he promised her a few text books.

After speaking with the Doctor he retreated back to Shepard's cabin, she'd vacated it, and spent the last hours before leaving FTL researching Benezia's daughter, Liara T'soni, their target. She was young, just barely into her Maiden years, but she already had serious published academic papers. They weren't widely known and he'd had to trawl more than a few dry university extranet sites, but they were there. Just this told him a few things about her.

One, she was in rebellion from her family. As a daughter of one of the Thirty families, she would have been expected to go into public service, even at a young age. Asari of the Thirty dominated the free wheeling E-Democracy that governed the Republics. Liara would have been expected to have perhaps a wild decade or two but to quickly enter some sort of position with an influential matriarch, probably using her mother's connections. If, even at the young age of 106, Liara hadn't done so then there was some sort of disconnect between her and her mother, the one who would have pushed her in that direction.

Second, even if she was a serious published academic, she very much remained in the maiden mind set. She was stubborn and obsessive, evidenced by her multiple papers that had not been well received by the academic community. She'd kept on writing them even though there was little proof and her theories were dismissed as wild speculation. Most maidens danced or joined mercenary bands but they all threw themselves into what they did with a reckless passion, just as Liara had done with her Prothran studies.

Harry hoped that she wouldn't be hostile when they found her and that she'd come willingly. He didn't have any information on her combat ability but he guessed that any danger would come from her biotics, strong just by dint of being a member of the Thirty.

He'd just pulled up her most recent paper, attempting to gain some insight into whatever she was working on, when the ship came out of FTL with a shudder. A few minutes later Shepard's voice sounded over the intercom, "All Council observers to the comm room. Prepare for a combat drop. Potter, come to the CIC."

Harry stood from the computer, pausing only to grab one of the Biotic suppression collars he'd taken from the Spectres armory and two runed earwigs all of which went into the pouch at his hip, and left the room, headed towards the CIC and the first step towards finding Saren and Benezia.


End file.
